


Pendulum: Between

by hariboo



Series: Pendulum [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Marvel Norse Lore, Post-Avengers (2012), References to Norse Religion & Lore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-04-15 10:02:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 56,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4602564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hariboo/pseuds/hariboo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Having found each other again doesn't mean things have gotten easier for Thor and Jane. In some ways things are only getting more complicated. At least now they can face whatever comes their way together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 0.1

**Author's Note:**

> YOU THOUGHT THIS SERIES WAS NEVER GETTING IT'S PART TWO. YOU THOUGHT!!! Tbh so did I. I was definitely worried for a while I might not get this part up, ever. But here it is!! First I want to thank so many people who just kept believing in me that I was gonna finish and have listened me to ramble about this fic for years, actual YEARS. First up is Kay who is my constant cheerleader in all my fic endeavors. Also Fuzz who has been my sounding board, my fic touchstone, who went through this and beta the mess that this was so I could put it up. Dhara who also helped me look through this, as well as Jaz. Also shout out to Emma (EMMA! U BELIEVED IN ME!!!) and Jordan who always are there to listen to me ramble about fic ideas. 
> 
> Okay not some fic notes: all the science is mostly me talking out of my ass backed by wiki research, just open your minds. Let the science magic flow. REFRESHER FACTS: while I did some post Thor 2 edits I still kept the bulk of my previous world building and rules, some which clash with Thor 2, so just consider this a canon compliant au fic for now. The reason for this is that the fic was 2/3 done when Thor 2 came out and I didn't feel like going back and shifting things around, esp since Part One was already up.
> 
> There is a future chapter that gets sexy~ but most of the fic is PG-13 rated. I'll tag that chapter appropriately. 
> 
> And this is my note from part one but it still stands: _They way I see Loki and the way Thor sees Loki are two different things. Thor’s still very confused if angry at his brother and wants to, well, save him, for a lack of a better word. However, I don’t particularly think Loki wants to be saved so that was for some fun writing. I know in the Avengers movie it's suggested that Jane's placement in Norway might not be directly in a SHIELD facility but I'm taking canon from all over the place. Norse canon, movie canon, comics canon, some cartoon (A:EMH), with a couple mentions to Nick Fury's Big Week. I've stucked it all in my mind blender and hit frappé. (more notes at the end of the fic.)_

> _Yggdrasil shivers,_  
>  _the ash, as it stands._  
>  _The old tree groans,_  
>  _and the giant slips free._
> 
> _Stanza 45, Poetic Edda_
> 
>  
> 
> _A tree house, a free house,_  
>  _A secret you and me house,_  
>  _A high up win the leafy branches_  
>  _Cozy as can be house._
> 
> _A street house, a neat house,_  
>  _Be sure and wipe your feet house_  
>  _Is not my kind of house at all--_  
>  _Let's go live in a tree house._
> 
> _-Shel Silverstein_

 

 

_.human reaction_  
_nine hours ago_

 

"Jane!" Darcy yelled.

Stark Tower shook under her feet, probably giving Manhattan and all its citizens its own look-see at what life was like in earthquake ridden California. Darcy would have had a lot of sympathy for Pepper, who'd probably be tasked with coming up with a viable cover story about this with Fury, but she was a little too busy freaking out because: _They just opened a wormhole at the top of Stark Tower._ (Freaking out aside, Jane had the Nobel in the bag.) 

And whatever anyone called it — wormhole, Einstein Rosen Rainbow Bridge, Bifrost — right now Darcy called it only one thing: The Giant Beam Of Light That Was Sucking Jane In.

Captain America was the only reason the Darcy wasn't following her in, his arm holding her back more effectively than a safety bar on a roller coaster, and keeping Darcy from her boss-turned-best friend. He’d showed up after his trip across his trip across America during the final stages of building Jane's Stargate. (And that reference was totally Bruce's fault. When he had made a pop-culture reference around week four of building that she and Clint didn't get, well, _that_ had to be fixed. They were currently on season three. Daniel Jackson is kinda her boo.) 

Now, Darcy wasn't a conspiracy theorist — better to leave that to the pros, or you know, Fury — but Steve Rogers popping up just as they were going to open a bridge to another world? Convenient? Or SHIELD?

Darcy knew which option she was betting on.

Not that she was mad about it, because Steve was probably saving her from doing something dangerous like going after Jane. Except, she _wanted_ to go after Jane. Jane, who had been standing too close to the machine and the platform, checking on some last minute details, but when her foot touched the platform it had gone all bright. The tentatively named Foster Bridge (Einstein and Rosen could suck it) opened and caught Jane up in the energy field.

Cue: Everyone freaking out. 

Cue: Darcy struggling against Steve's arm as she watched Bruce's arm turn green, trying to cut through the energy field and keep a hold on Jane. It looked seriously shaky. It looked like they were all going to die.

Darcy wasn't sure who yelled at Bruce not to let go, herself, Jane, or Tony, who was already moving towards Bruce. But it was then - just as Tony went to grab Bruce's arm, Natasha right behind him, all of them ready to pull Jane back - that Darcy saw it. 

Jane's thin arm sliding from Bruce's green hold. Darcy’s elbow connected with Steve's eye, making them stumble back on the shaking roof as she triedto get to her friend. 

"Jane!"

Light exploded. 

 

-

 

_.seeker and light_

 

Jane woke. 

Her head pounded. It was the first thing she felt. The second was the material under her cheek. It was soft, softer than her sheets in Stark Tower. Softer than anything she had ever touched. She rubbed her cheek against it as if feeling the cool, softness of the material would make her head stop hurting. If it could make her thoughts quiet and stop spinning like the lights had been when the Bridge--

God, the bridge.

Memories assaulted her then, the lights, the images, the _words_ , barely leaving her space to breathe as she tried get her bearings and shot up on the bed.

Stark Tower, stepping on the platform, the Bridge opening, Heimdall, Asgard, _Thor_ , and then the world had looked golden before it had gone dark. 

She had just travelled across space with only the clothes on her back and a pen in her hair. 

Wait? Bed?

Gasping, she fisted her fingers on the material under her as she sat up. Her eyes roamed wild around the room. Too fast, too bright. Her eyes hurt; her head hurt. Gold burned her eyes. It was everywhere. Her short nails dug into the palms of her hand even through the material of the sheets. Her mouth felt dry; her tongue thick in it. She couldn't even get it to wet her lips.

That's when she caught sight of him. 

The room stopped spinning. 

He held it down around him, a focal point in the dizzying gold and light. 

Blue eyes watched her with joy and worry, and Jane felt her chest expand. His necklace was still warm against her skin. Jane took a slow, deep breath. Air, too sweet, filled her lungs.

"Hi," she said. 

She had missed his smile. 

The room had seemed huge from the moment she took note of where she was. Blinking, Jane amended that, because the room _was_ huge, but in an instant Thor crossed it with his long stride and sat at her side. He laid one hand gently on her cheek. His smile was soft, but wide and blinding. 

"Jane," said Thor. His other hand covered one of hers on the bed. Her fingers uncurled from where they clutched at the bedspread. She relaxed the fingers under his hand, letting them twine with his. Her other hand wrapped around the wrist of the one holding her cheek. 

"Not a dream then?" she asked. "I'm in Asgard?"

Thor shook his head. "No, not a dream. You are in Asgard." His thumb stroked the curve of her cheek. 

Jane closed her eyes. "Okay, okay. Okay. So, that happened. And that she just used the actual speed of light to move across space, which means interstellar travel by way of manipulating light waves and stabilising exotic matter to manipulate space time is possible. Okay, okay, _woah_." She tried to calm herself down. “The readings…” She trailed off as she remembered dropping at Heimdall's feet too clearly now. _Graceful, Foster_. The pressure on her temple still thrummed like tiny drums. 

On top of the sheets, Thor’s hand cradled hers. His fingers were calloused, rough, and too warm. They felt the same as before. In her dreams they were always a little too smooth, too perfect. Now they felt real. She was sure her nails were digging into the skin that was not covered by his bracers. He didn't complain.

She pulled in a steadying breath, then winced a second later. 

"So, did I really faint?" she asked, opening her eyes, looking to Thor's eyes. They trailed her face. He seemed closer. His lips twitched.

"You fell unconscious shortly after your arrival. I arrived not seconds after. According to Heimdall, the connection you made with the Bifrost was very unstable and you very nearly did not make through." The words were careful and factual, but there was a strain in his voice. The hand covering hers held stronger, the crinkle of his eyes and edge of his smile tightened. 

Jane could see worry clouding in his face, and felt nervous at the other emotions she could read in it too. She nodded, wetting her lips, "It was. I mean, I'm no expert in wormhole travel, though now I think I maybe be the foremost human expert…” she shook her head, the words as unbelievable as the fact, “but it felt thin. Like every moment the connection could have dropped and me with it. I didn't mean to land here and definitely not unconscious." 

Thor started to say something when there was delicate cough from across the room. Nerves hit Jane straight in the chest like arrows and she swore she saw Thor's eyes widen and a blush cross his face. Slowly, she looked over his shoulder and saw two women. 

Jane had thought they were alone.

One she recognised. 

Sif, Thor's friend, who was doing a horrible job at hiding the smirk on her face. 

The other Jane didn't know. She was an older woman of Sif's height, with light auburn hair and a soft expression. She held herself gracefully, and even with her gentle demeanor there was only one thought that crossed Jane's mind as she looked at this woman: _Queen._

Thor's mother.

Oh shit.

Eyes snapping back to Thor, she watched his face and fought her own laugh of nervousness and utter embarrassment when their eyes met. At least she wasn't alone with her mortification. With a squeeze of his fingers he stood but did not let go of her hand. 

"Mother, this is the Lady Jane Foster of Midgard! The most brilliant scholar of her realm," he said, a little too loud, beaming. Jane felt her flush spread all the way down her neck. 

Across the room the queen’s mouth quirked, and Sif pressed her lips as if she was trying not to smile.

Two thoughts occurred to Jane in rapid succession:

One: Thor's mother and friend had just _heard_ everything they'd just said to each other. 

Two: She was meeting Thor's mother, the _Queen_ , after technically trespassing into her home, after almost making out with her son, in a bed, wearing the same clothes she had been wearing for the last thirty-six hours. 

_Oh my god_.

Keeping hold of Thor's hand, legs still feeling a little too wobbly, Jane stumbled from the bed. The floor was cool beneath her bare feet — marble, or very like it, she noted briefly, and filed away questions about the minerals on Asgard and their similarity to Midgard . She pushed away the loosened hair — wait, where was her pen? — from her face, and cheerfully disregarded Thor’s mild protests against her getting out of the bed. He smiled down at her, though, and moved a steadying hand to the small of her back. 

Jane was not about to tell him how much she appreciated it. She was mostly fine and she didn’t want to appear fragile, but she didn’t want to topple over either; she leaned into his hand.

"Your Majesty!" Jane sounded nervous even to her own ears. _Should I curtsy_ , she wondered, then did, horrible and ungainly, and immediately regretted the action. "Hi—Hello! I'm sorry—I didn't mean—" Her words were cut off as Thor's mother crossed the room in a movement so graceful that she looked as if she were gliding, and laid her palms to Jane's cheeks. 

The queen brushed her fingers across Jane's temples and Jane felt the headache she'd woken up with recede. She blinked, surprised.

"Jane Foster of Midgard, I welcome you to Asgard," Thor's mother said, surprising her again when she leaned down and pressed gentle kisses on Jane's cheeks. 

Jane flushed, and Thor's hand pressed firmly against the small of her back. She lowered her eyes, "I—Thank you, Your Highness."

The Queen lifted Jane's chin with gentle fingers, and Jane mether eyes. She was smiling. It was like warmed honey pouring over every frazzled nerve in her; tension she hadn’t known she was carrying seemed to leak out of her, as she met that warm grey gaze.

"Now as my son has not done his duty in properly introducing us, I believe it our own duty to do so." She slid a look to Thor, full of affection but with an edge that had him shifting his weight. The hand on Jane's back twitched, his fingers curling into the flannel, his pinkie brushed her skin where he scrunched up the material. Jane bit the inside of her cheek. 

"Apologies, Mother," said Thor. He took a step away from Jane, his hand moving from the small of her back to curve around her elbow, and winked at his mother. It was ridiculous, and ridiculously adorable. 

With some flourish he then waved to Jane. "Jane Foster of Midgard, it is my great honour to present my wondrous and loving mother, Queen of the Aesir, Frigga, the All-Mother." He bowed near the end, and Jane tried for another curtsy, this time feeling less like a fool. Thor's mother bowed her head gracefully even as she angled a look at her son. Jane was sure she could hear a smothered laugh from across the room. She glanced and caught the amused twinkle in Sif's eyes. But Thor wasn't done. 

"Mother, my fair Queen, may I present to you the Lady Jane Foster of Midgard, scholar of the sciences, and explorer of the stars." He then paused and looked at Jane. She felt goosebumps rise up under his gaze. "Bridge Seeker." Jane's breath caught in her throat. 

Frigga's eyes widened slightly, but her smile grew, warm at the corners. 

"It is a great pleasure to meet you, Lady Jane."

Jane bowed her head. "Ah, Thank you."

Thor smiled at both of them and then waved his arm out towards Sif. "You remember the Lady Sif, do you not, Jane?"

Sif stepped forward, rolling her eyes, and nodded to Jane. "Hello, Jane Foster. Welcome."

Jane grinned, giving Sif a small wave. "Hello, Sif. Lady Sif," she amended quickly, following Thor’s lead.

"Sif is fine. Are you well, Jane?" Sif asked. "You journeyed far." She moved to stand by the queen's side; she was at almost equal height with her and Thor, and Jane wondered if all of the Asgardians would be so tall. She nodded at Sif's question. 

"Yes, thank you," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She shifted her weight, awkward, searching for words and not finding any. She had traveled across the cosmos to them and now she could not find words to speak beyond simple replies.

Thor's fingers smoothed over her arm, his thumb resting at the crease of her elbow. Jane sighed, leaning into his side, suddenly tired. Thor held her close to his side, letting more of her weight rest on him.

Frigga's eyes followed their movements. Jane felt her chest tighten. 

"You are still recovering, child," said the queen, brisk and kind, and moved one hand to Jane's cheek. "Our healers have looked over you and have found nothing amiss, but you need more rest. Fulla-" she called over her shoulder and a young woman appeared swiftly, through a wide set of doors that Jane hadn’t really noted before.

She bowed, "My Queen?"

Frigga summoned the young woman closer. Her hair was light, her eyes a soft green. Frigga smiled. "Fulla, please make sure that the Lady Jane's bath is drawn and she has new attire in the wardrobe before the day is done." Frigga looked at Jane, appraising, "And call for some food and drink." 

The girl bowed. "Right away, my Queen," and slipped away before Jane could really even process just what happened.

Jane looked at Frigga, "I-I. You didn't have to do that, I could have—" 

"Dear Jane," Frigga said, gently, "you've suffered a strenuous day. Have a bath, have a meal, change into some fresh clothes; let us take care of you."

Jane looked from Thor to Frigga to Sif, feeling her blush deepen. This was not the impression she’d hoped to create, when she had hoped for the possibility of this journey, this meeting. Thor still looked worried, his gaze darkening slightly, like he would argue with her if she refused his mother. As if Jane could. 

"Your Majesty, I," Jane swallowed. "Thank you. I appreciate it, but I don't want to be a burden. I don't need…"

The queen's fingers touched Jane's forehead. "Rest, Jane. Do not worry yourself." She turned to Thor. "Son, I trust that you will be accompanying Jane for her meal."

Thor nodded, stepping closer to Jane, his arm wrapping around her waist. "Yes, Mother."

"Very well, I'll instruct Fulla to bring two plates." Frigga smiled. "We'll let you rest, Jane. Thor, after your meal you should speak to your father." 

"Of course, Mother."

Thor nodded again, but this time it felt grave to Jane. Something passed between mother and son that felt heavy and worrisome. Glancing at Sif, seeing the look that passed in her eyes, told her that while she didn't know what Frigga's word to Thor meant, Sif had a better idea than Jane. She looked worried, too. 

The fact that Sif, who Jane had seen jump from a building onto the metal destroyer without losing her sharp smile, looked worried at simple words twisted a knot in Jane's stomach. From between Frigga and Thor, she caught Sif's eyes. Sif lowered her gaze, a muscle in her jaw twitched, and when she looked up at Jane the look was gone. 

"Thor, Jane, my Queen," Sif stepped forward, "I shall take my leave now. Jane," she smiled, quick and warm, "I am grateful for your safe arrival." She touched Jane's shoulder gently. Jane smiled back.

"Thanks, Sif."

Turning to bow to Thor and the queen, Sif left, her boots barely sounding on the gleaming floor. Jane turned to Frigga and Thor and found herself giving another, more graceful — at least she hoped — farewell to the queen who, with a quick kiss to Thor's cheek, left the room as well. 

As the doors closed, Jane turned to Thor. 

"Well, I guess we're even now."

Thor quirked his eyebrow. "Pardon?"

Jane sat herself down on the bed. Her toes brushed the floor. "You made a fool of yourself when you met Erik, who's pretty much like a second father to me, and I'm pretty sure I just made a fool of myself to your mom. So, even." She grinned up at him.

"Never would I call you a fool, Jane," Thor smiled and tucked her hair back, cupping her neck. He sat at her side. "My mother is as charmed with you as I am."

Jane licked her lips, her teeth pressing down against the bottom lip. "Charmed?"

Thor’s smile grew, his hand lingering on her shoulder, "Quite so." 

He reached for her hand and brought her fingers to his lips. Jane felt her heartbeat speed up. 

"Thor, I," Jane started, not sure what she wanted to say. There was so much she wanted to ask, so much she wanted to tell him. He had answered some of her questions in that video message he sent her with Erik's phone, but she still had so many more. 

"You have questions," he spoke clearly, softly; not a question, a statement.

Jane rested a hand around on her neck. Thor's hand was still a pleasant weight on her other shoulder on the opposite spot. His fingers curved much farther than hers, spanning from her collarbone to her shoulder blade. If she moved the hand on her neck just an inch further she could brush her fingers against his middle and ring fingers. 

Jane moved her hand back down to her lap. Her fingers twined together.

"So, so many," she sighed. 

His hand moved to cradle her head. She leaned into it, leaned into him. Thor's breath ghosted her ear. "I will answer them, all that I can." 

She smiled up at him. "I know."

Something passed in Thor's eyes. Something heavy, an emotion that made her nervous and excited all at once. She thought about love, but fairy-tales and romantic notions aside, she knew it couldn't be that. He'd only known her for a few days. And while she knew she had longed for him, wanted him, and even really, _really_ liked him, her feelings had been twisted in discovery, adrenaline, and affection for this man who turned her world, her work, upside down and then helped drive her forward. 

She loved her work, she lived for it, and Thor was tangled up in all of that. She had a feeling he always would be. What that meant now, with his face so close to hers, she wasn't sure.

The look in his eyes was too close to what she had felt all those months of searching.

( _Deal? Deal._ ) 

She touched his face, her thumb rested where his chin sloped into his neck. His beard was prickly under the pads of her fingers. 

Back in New Mexico they hadn't touched much, not really. He held his hand around hers and kissed it, her hands touched his bloody face, his arms wrapped tight around her as they flew. The kiss. Her kiss. For all the space he took, he'd always seemed aware of the space between them and touched her very carefully, deliberately. Even on this bed he kept some room between them, even with his hand on her shoulder. 

That air felt thick, full of everything that had happened in the months that passed since they last saw each other. 

It wasn't as uncomfortable as she thought it'd be, the space between them or the silence, as they regarded each other.

There was no surprise when he bent his head towards her. It was slow, deliberate. Just like when he kissed her hand that first time. It made her giddy, just the memory of it. When his lips touched hers, Jane was already smiling into the kiss. 

It was slow. Unlike their last kiss (the first kiss) in every way. Every slide of his mouth against hers was coaxing and studied, like he'd been planning just how he would kiss her for months. And the knowledge that he could have been dizzied her. She leaned into the kiss. Thor fingers slipped and wound in her hair, tilting her face towards him. Her hand at his chin turned and she pressed it flat against the line of his jaw.

The space between them still felt thick like dark honey. Jane wanted to fall into it, taking Thor with her. 

His tongue traced the seam of her lips, seeking entrance. 

Jane opened under him. She reached for him. Her nails rasped against his stubble. She felt his moan vibrate under her fingers before she heard it. 

Thor's hand flattened against her hip over her jeans. He pulled her closer and Jane went willingly. 

When her knees bump against his thigh as she tried to shift the angle of the kiss, her nose smashing against his cheek, and pulled back a little, giggling, her eyes opening. She watched as his opened, too. The blue in them glinted. She felt his grin stretch over her mouth. 

Their noses brushed alongside each other. 

"Hi, again," she breathed. 

"Hello, again," he whispered. 

He rested his forehead against hers, sighing. His lashes lowered. Jane covered his cheeks with her palms, her thumbs traced the curve of his cheekbones. 

Thor held her close and she pushed herself closer, her knees digging against the muscle of his thighs. The hand that rested at her hip moved, wrapping around her back. He looked tired, Jane thought. Tired and sad, a lot like he had when Erik had brought him back from the SHIELD base. Jane leaned forward and kiss his closed eyelids, one, then the other, following the line of his brow. She heard him murmur her name again as she pressed her lips against his cheek. Her lips touched his again, softer this time. His name whispered between them with equal gentleness.

And the floodgates opened. 

One hand at her waist, the other in her hair, Thor pulled her up into his lap. Jane's knees dropped against the mattress on either side of his hips. She wound her arms around his neck, moaning as he licked his way in to her mouth, sucking at her tongue. His earlier deliberation and precision was gone. There was no space between them anymore, but the thickness of the air around them remained. Thor's arm around her waist held her tighter, she could feel the cool metal of his armour cool even through her shirt. Their hips aligned, and she rolled hers against his, just wanting him, then in a move too quick for her, _god he’s fast_ , he turned them on the bed and she felt her back lowered to the soft covers, one thick thigh pressing between hers. 

She arched into him, a moan slipping past her lips.

He pressed her more firmly on the bed, fingers clenched in her shirt. She could feel his knuckles against her skin, skimming her spine. 

Thor's mouth left hers and trailed wet kisses down her throat, pushing the material of her top aside. He sucked at the soft skin behind her ear. Then again, harder, and she could feel the blunt edges of his teeth. A flash of heat flared through her, her hips arching against his, wanting to pull him closer. Somehow that balant action had him pulling back. Thor kissed her softly in the same spot before resting his forehead against the crook of her neck. She heard his groan, rough and edging on frustrated, but he didn't move. 

She didn't want him to, liking the feel of his weight between her legs.

She held him there as she got her breath back, and she could feel him doing the same.

 _Woah_ , was all she could think. _Woah_.

Thor pushed himself up, but not away, the muscles in his arms shifting way too attractively under his skin. His breath was hot against her lips. Jane grinned, feeling her cheeks flush. 

"Woah," she said, delighted when he flashed a smile and bent down to nudge her nose with his. 

"From my few days in Midgard, I've taken that to mean a good thing."

She dug her fingers into the hair at the back of his neck, smiling, "Very good thing."

"We should sit," he said, clearing his throat. "Your meal will arrive shortly." The hips that had been tight against hers moved back. Jane loved seeing the pink that bloomed against his neck as he did so.

"Okay, let's sit," she agreed, amused, dropping her hands.

He sat up and took her with him. Jane tried not to let the casual show of strength fluster her. He lifted her and focused on smoothing down her shirt and running her fingers through her hair. For the first time she noticed the not-so-small night table by the bed and saw her pen, the pen that had been in her hair, was there. She grinned and reached for it, twirling it between her fingers. 

"It fell from your hair," he said, looking at her fingers. “Your coat is on the chair.” He motioned to a chair that held her jacket.

"I was going to ask you about them."

Abruptly, he stood and shifted on his feet. Jane's memory flashed back to the night he dropped Erik off after they got him out. He had fidgeted in her trailer. She'd been too nervous to notice it then, but now she saw it. The way his eyes flitted from the bed to her, to her fingers, then her face. He carried nervousness awkwardly. It strangely delighted her.

 _Thank god, I'm not the only nervous one here_. She grinned at him, leaning forward on the bed. "Thor?"

He seemed to have an inner debate with himself for a second before squaring his shoulders and clearing his throat, eyes on hers.

"I wish to court you, Jane."

Out of everything he could have said, that was pretty much the last thing she had expected. 

"Huh?" Jane blinked. "What—court?"

Thor smiled and reached for her hand. Jane let him pull her up. He didn't let go and bent, touching his lips to her knuckles, once, then something alighting in his eyes, he did it again, this time with the gentle scrape of his teeth. Jane's breath stuttered. Unlike her, however, his nervousness never seemed to last long.

"I wish to court you, Jane," he repeated, slower this time, making the whole thing sound more suggestive than was good for her pulse. "And I hope I've made my intentions clear."

Pressing her teeth against her bottom lip, she nodded. 

"Okay, yeah." The words whooshed out of her. She smiled. Courting, she could do that. Sure.

Straightening again, Thor stood, tall and beaming. He led Jane to the table at the other end of the room, and then moved towards the doors to call for Jane's food. Jane eyes, however, were trained on the open window of the room, and made her way to the balcony. 

Asgard stretched out before her eyes and it made her chest hurt. Her eyes misted over, and her hand covered her mouth, awe filling her. Her glimpse before she blacked out on the Bridge had been nothing. A glimpse in every sense of the word, because there were no words to what she saw now. 

Realm Eternal, she'd read. 

Home of the gods, the Aesir, she'd read. 

It hadn't been enough. 

Vaguely she heard Thor come behind her, saying that the food had arrived, but she couldn't look away from the window. 

It was if something at the very the core of her being was being tugged. 

She felt Thor's arm wrap around her stomach, pulling her to his chest. She leaned into him, letting their fingers twine together naturally, again.

Mouth at her ear, he said, "Welcome to Asgard."

Jane laughed, the sound bubbling out of her, echoing lightly in the wind. “They’re never going to believe me back on Earth.” 

It took a second.

“Oh, shit. Earth.”

 

-

 

_.courtly manner_

Thor had not wanted to leave Jane, but knew it was unavoidable. Her arrival to the realm was unprecedented. No mortal had ever stepped foot on Asgard in all its years. That alone would be cause for concern and inquiry, but the manner in which she had arrived would bring all manner of questions. Many about Jane herself and her purpose here. Thor was not comfortable with the idea of Jane being questioned and treated as if she was a trespasser.

He left her in the rooms his mother prepared for her, the plates shared between them empty. She had been hungry and full of questions. Full of worry, as well, for her friends on Midgard and how they probably thought her dead. He assured her as best he could. 

She’d been more hungry for answers to her questions than the food, he thought fondly. He had answered best her questions the best he could, charmed by how bright her eyes became as he did. Many had been about Bifrost, how it broke, his hand in breaking it, and the events that took place in New York. She in turned told him of her research and meeting Stark and Banner. Her anecdotes were warm and funny and made him wish he had been able to spend more time with his Midgardian allies, as well, he felt ashamed to admit, the odd flash of jealousy sparked as she spoke of her time spent with them. 

He did not like knowing she was alone in the palace, but he knew his mother's handmaiden would looked after Jane. She would have a chance to wash and dress before her audience with the All-Father. 

His father had not seemed as delighted as himself and his mother at the news of Jane's arrival.

The only reason she was not being called into his presence yet was due only to his mother, who had insisted that Eir and her healers look to Jane and allow her to rest. 

Entering the throne room, Thor caught sight of his father. Seated on Hliðskjálf, his father beckoned him forth. From his right, his mother came into sight, taking her own seat. 

The presence of his mother did well to soothe some of Thor's nerves. 

"Father, Mother," he bowed.

"My son, your mother tells me your guest fares well." 

"She does, Father."

His father didn't nod, didn't smile, didn't blink. He looked at Thor and Thor fought not to flinch. 

"The news of what occurred on the Bifrost has begun circulating around the kingdom. Already many find the news baffling, more find it troubling. How did she come about the knowledge of such a feat?"

Thor bristled under the accusatory nature in his father's tone. "Through her own will. Jane means no harm, to us or the realms. She is a scholar and scientist. Her arrival was one of chance and curiosity. I will not have her actions questioned as if they are of malicious intent." 

"A mortal has opened the door to Asgard where an Aesir could not!" Odin exclaimed, "A mortal, Thor, from a world that cannot comprehend the ways of our people."

"Perhaps they have discovered their own way to understand the Bifrost."

His father’s eye hardened. "Perhaps, or perhaps your brother still has strings in place."

The idea that Loki could have a hold on Jane burned at Thor. " _No_."

"Are you so sure, my son?"

Thor met his father's gaze, "Yes. Jane is not under Loki’s hold. She has found her way to Asgard under her own merit, I am sure."

"She did not mend the Bifrost, as you have heralded her to. Heimdall has tried to call it forth since her arrival to no success. The Observatory stands unfinished." His father’s voice was flat, harsh. Thor was glad he chose to meet with his father before introducing him to Jane. "What manner could then a mortal arrival to this realm if not by the Bifrost?"

Thor did wonder that as well. Not about Jane's skill or her ability to have found a way to travel between realms, but the fact the Bifrost still stood broken at Heimdall's feet. Jane had found a way to connect Midgard to Asgard, but Asgard still stood cut off. 

Suddenly, Thor understood, in part the reason for his father's hard look and harder tone. 

They had thought Asgard to be untouchable with the Bifrost broken. That no other beings, foe or ally, could cross the bridge as it stood. Jane had just proven a realm wrong.

"There are more ways to travel the realms than we employ, father. As we have learned," Thor answered, heavy with meaning. Words were left unsaid. Words like, dark energy, Tesseract, Loki. "Perhaps she has built her own."

Odin’s countenance did not change at Thor's words, yet Thor thought he saw something in his father's eyes flash. “What power she used and what power Heimdall pulled to bring her forth will complicate the repairs. We do not have time for this, Thor.”

Thor stepped closer to his father. "And she cannot be sent back. Jane has come to Asgard in search of answers with no malice intended and she will look to help in any way she can. She is my guest and I intend on having her treated as such." At the edge of Asgard, thunder rumbled.

In his seat, the All-Father said nothing. 

At his side, Frigga smiled.

 

-

 

He walked back into Jane's room tense. His father's words weighed every step. 

It was a struggle to push them out of his mind, even though he did not agree with them. 

Straightening his shoulders, he took a deep breathe. Upon entering the quarters and announcing himself, he quirked his brow as he saw she was bent over the table. She did not look up at his entrance. He wondered if she even saw them. Her hand held her pen she arrived with and she was writing on… He could not tell, but he felt confident that she would not be writing on the table. 

Despite not taking great care in being quiet, Jane was too enraptured in her work to notice his advance into the room. Her hair, slightly damp from her washing, hung over one shoulder. The dress his mother had left for her dipped in a curve across her shoulder blades, her hair both covering and hinting at the skin underneath. He wanted to slip his fingers through her hair, sweep it aside and press his lips against her skin. 

Thor ran his tongue over his teeth, tucking those thoughts away.

Stepping just behind her, he looked over her shoulder, curious about what she was writing so fervently.

Thor grinned at the answer.

She was writing on one of the cloth napkins left after their meal.

Smiling to himself, he promised himself he would find her a journal. Loki had had many of them filled with notes and scribbles Thor never paid much attention to. They had been made of the finest leathers, bounded by the strongest of thread. The notion of asking Loki for one flitted across his mind before he remembered Loki's cold eyes and dismissal each time Thor tried to speak to him. Once he could have asked his brother about a journal for Jane, who was looking to run out of space on her napkin. Not any more. 

His mother would surely know, Thor reasoned. 

As not to startle Jane, he touched the edge of her chair. She shifted, sensing the presence, but still kept her focus on what she wrote. 

"Jane," murmured Thor. He skimmed her shoulder gently. The skin of the nape of her neck was damp, the collar of her dress was darkened where the water was soaked up by the material. Her skin shimmered in the light. Thor's hand curled at his side.

Jane's head snapped up, eyes shining. "Oh, hey! I didn't hear you come in."

On the table, her hand kept moving for several more seconds then stopped. 

Thor sat on the chair next to hers, two fingers skated the edge of her makeshift paper. 

Jane looked down at his fingers, cheeks pinking. "I didn’t have paper, I’m sorry! I just kept thinking about why I ended up _here_ and why the bridge opened the way it did, and I didn't want to write on the table, but I couldn't stop thinking about it." She spun the pen idly in her fingers. On the napkin the symbols born from Jane's hand were dark and stark against the pale yellow cloth. Thor was reminded of the ancient runes he never paid much attention to. 

Jane's symbols made little sense to him, but they made her eyes bright. 

"Do not worry," said Thor, touching her wrist. "The napkin is yours."

"Thanks," she said, her hand covering her work, her body leaning closer to his. "For, you know, everything. The room is pretty spectacular. I thought it was yours, you know? Fit for a prince, which you are." 

"Did you now?" He grinned, even as he felt heat course through him at the idea of housing Jane in his quarters. He could even feel his cheek flush slightly.

Jane grinned back. "Well, I've never been in a palace before, and you seemed pretty comfortable in here before."

Thor was not used to feeling so flustered, his throat went dry. "If I took too many liberties--"

Leaning closer, Jane touched her lips to the corner of his mouth. "Stop, you didn't. Well, not any liberties I didn't want you to take."

Smiling, he reached for her hand, ran his thumb over knuckles, once, twice, and held, "You tease me too readily, Jane."

She smiled, but then went quiet for a second. "I'm not going to be good at this courting thing, it's not really done on Earth anymore," she tilted her head at him, soft and sly. "But I'm a quick study."

He thought of how in the mere span of days she had challenged him to prove himself, how she had put her faith in him when he had not deserved it, and how in less than two years of learning what lied beyond her realm she found a way to expand her reach and explore. He thought her more than quick. 

"You are more than quick, Jane, you are brilliant." Too fierce, the words tumbled from his lips.

Her face worked, her lips a gentle line, but her eyes held his in a steady gaze. 

"Hey, what's wrong?" Her hand covering the napkin moved to his cheek.

The feel of her fingers was more calming than he expected. Thor reached up, pressing his hand over hers, keeping her hand effectively between his hold and his cheek. Jane moved her chair closer to his.

"Thor?"

"We need to speak, Jane. There are things you need you know."

Jane's fingers tensed under his hand. He kept them against his skin.

 

-

 

_.the other side_

 

It burned.

More than a little. 

Jane tired not to flinch as Thor told her of his father's suspicions of her and the state of the Bifrost. The fact that it couldn't be reopened from Asgard worried her. Not just for the fact she was without a way back, but because connecting the two sides of the bridge should have re-established the preexisting connection between the worlds.

That it hadn't made Jane feel like a failure. She'd succeeded in nothing but stranding herself in an unfamiliar world, and the part of her that was filled with curiosity over this — she had successfully opened a wormhole and traveled across it! Take that, SHIELD! — and seeing Thor, was tempered down by the scary fact she had no way of communicating with Earth. Had no way of telling everyone at Stark Tower that she was okay, that she made it through. 

God, they must be freaking out. She needed to find a way to communicate with them that she was okay.

Pacing the large room, Jane fisted her hands into her dress. 

Maybe she was freaking out a little, too. 

She hadn't expected the bridge, the Bifrost, to remain broken after. That grated, more than a bit. It wasn’t that she wanted to be the big hero, to fix the Bifrost, but it would have been pretty cool. 

"Jane, I am sorry," Thor said, from where he sat at the table. The napkin she had been writing on laid flat on the table by him. "My father worries for the state of the realm, but he is wrong to think you are threat to it."

She also hadn't expected for Thor's father to be suspicious of her and her reasons for coming to Asgard. 

Thor looked distraught, his eyes heavy on her. 

She leaned against one of the large pillars by the window. Beyond it Asgard gleamed. 

"It's okay. I guess I couldn't have expected my coming here would be all roses and celebrations." she closed her eyes against Asgard's shine. Her head ached again.

A chair scraped over the floor and Thor's footsteps moved towards her. She felt him move in front of her. The air around her seemed to change as he stepped closer to her, heavier, thicker. She wondered if was a romantic notion of hers or just Thor and his power—he seemed brighter here than he had back on Earth.

He moved a strand of hair over her shoulder. 

She opened her eyes. Had his eyes always been so blue?

"I would hold a celebration for a week to honour your presence on Asgard if you wished it," he grinned. He was teasing, she could tell, but the look in his eyes said he would follow through with his words if she wanted him to. 

"That’s really sweet," said Jane, "but no thanks. I'm good."

Thor laughed lightly, leaning into her, but aside from the fingers by her hair no other part of him touched her.

Jane rolled her head back against the pillar where Thor's other hand rested on it.

"He does wish to speak with you nevertheless."

"Really?"

He smiled, quick and boyish. "Indeed. You are no trespasser, nor under any influence but your own, and have found a way to Asgard where no other mortal has been able to. Of course the All-Father should want to meet you. You _are_ brilliant, Jane." He leaned closer, head bending down to her. 

Her body instinctively responded to his, the centre of her body lifting, her hips rolling when his hand covered one. Magnets, she thought. Heat rose in her cheeks.

"And you're laying it on pretty thick," she flirted back.

Thor blinked, "Pardon?"

She giggled. "Nothing, don't worry about it. Thank you."

They stood staring at each other for a few minutes, smiling and comfortable. Jane's mind full everything and nothing. She could easily imagine Darcy telling them to break up their moony-eyed staring contest and at that something in Jane's chest constricted sharply. 

"They must be so worried about me back on Earth," she murmured, looking away from Thor.

He carded his fingers through her hair again. "Heimdall will look upon Midgard and see how our friends fare, and we will find a way to let them know you are well. You—We will find a way, Jane." He said the words with such certainty. The look on his face held the same certainty. Jane wrapped her arms around him and kissed the curve of his jaw. 

"I keep saying thank you to you today." 

Thor touched his lips to her hair and then stepped back, offering his arm. 

"And you are most welcome, Jane, but you owe me no thanks. If it were not for you I am sure I would still be walking aimless in your great desert."

Jane laughed and took his arm, shaking her head. "I doubt it. You would have run into some town sooner or later." She looked down at the arm she held. Her hand looked so pale and small against his tanned skin and bracers. "So, we going somewhere?"

"Then it was thanks to Idunn's good graces I came upon you first," he winked, walking towards the door. "There is not much of the day left, but Lady Jane, if you would do me the great honour of showing you the palace grounds before we dine?" 

"Yeah, I'd love it," she smiled. ”Wait, who are we having dinner with?"

Thor pushed the door open with his free hand. Jane took a moment to appreciate and admire his strength. 

"It will be an informal dinner, only us, Sif, and the Warriors Three. Mother warned that you should not strain yourself after your journey." Stepping out into the hall, Jane felt really small. She was already short, but now she felt small. She'd only seen her room so far and the wide stretch of Asgard from her window, but now the palace opened before her like a golden butterfly uncurling from the recesses of her imagination. Her imagination hadn’t a clue. The scale was unbelievable; it made Thor look small.

She swallowed. 

"Well, at least I know your mother likes me."

Thor bent quickly and kissed her cheek. "Father will, too." He didn't sound as sure as he wanted to, but Jane figured it was okay. One out two god-like parents was enough of a win for her.

"Now, Jane, let me present Asgard."


	2. 0.2

_.asgard waiting_

She had slept in, at least, she thought she had. Nobody had come to wake her and there were no alarm clocks in Asgard — there were _no clocks_ in Asgard as she learned last night — to tell her what the time was when she woke up. However, from the light coming through the balcony, she could tell that Asgard's sun was high in the sky. 

Rolling out of bed, Jane found new dresses in the wardrobe that Fulla showed her last night when Jane came back from dinner with Thor and the others. She was in the process of putting one on when Fulla entered the room, silent as ghost, to help Jane get ready. It took a few seconds of convincing but now Jane sat awkwardly as the young handmaiden pulled the top half of her hair into a simple hairstyle.

"I'm sorry, but what time is it?"

"Sol has ridden high in the sky for five hours, Lady Jane."

Okay, so the star that served as Asgard's sun was called Sol. That would be simple enough to remember. Still, that did not tell her much of what time it was. Trying another approach, Jane asked again. 

"Does that mean I missed breakfast?"

In the vanity mirror of Jane's room, Fulla's smile was gentle. Her hands twisted Jane's hair. "The queen and the prince cautioned us not to wake you and let your recover all your energies."

So that was a yes.

"Should you wish, I shall come and wake you in time for the first meal of the day so that you might share it with the prince," Fulla said, carefully. Her last few words spoken so quietly that they practically trailed off into silence before the sentence was over. Her eyes lowered, focused on the work of Jane's hair once more.

Jane fought not blush. "Yes, that would be‑‑ I mean, yes, thank you."

"I am here to serve you, Lady Jane."

A few seconds later Fulla stepped away and to the side. Jane stood and looked into the mirror, tilting her head at the way her hair fell down her back. 

"Wow, it looks great." 

Fulla bowed her head. "I am glad it pleases you, my lady."

Jane shifted in place. "You don't have to call me that. _My lady_ , I mean. Jane's fine. I'm not..."

Fulla's eyes snapped up to her and Jane was pretty sure she just messed up big time in the cultural scheme of things if the wide, shocked look in the other woman's face was anything to go by. 

"It would not be proper, my lady," Fulla said, mindfully. She did not look away though as she said the words. "You are an honoured guest of our prince. I could not presume to address you with such familiarity."

Okay. Rules of nobility then. She should have figured, but it still made her uncomfortable. Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three had been very lax at dinner last night, but then again they _were_ the nobility. Lady Jane it was then.

Jane nodded. "Oh, I see, I guess I’m not as familiar with your ways as I'd like to be." 

A small grin bloomed in young girl's face, "It is all well, my lady." She bowed her head. "Is there anything else you require?"

Looking around the room, and as grand as it was, Jane knew she didn't want to spend her whole day in it. Two places called to her. One however, might be easier than the other. "Does the palace have a library?"

The way Fulla looked at her made Jane think she had made another cultural mistake, but the handmaiden schooled her face quickly. "Yes, of course, my lady. However, her majesty has requested the lady's audience as soon as it was suitable so the lady could have her first meal. It is likely the prince will have finished his morning sessions in the training yard and has joined his mother. Perhaps I am too bold to presume, but the prince might prefer to escort the lady to the library himself."

Jane ran her tongue across the roof her mouth, amused at the polite delivery of information. "I think having you around is going to be a big help to me, Fulla," she said, motioning to the door. "Lead the way."

"My lady," Fulla bowed her head, but there was a definite curl to her lips. 

 

-

 

There was too much food. Jane realised that around her second helping of fruits, honeyed bread, and juice and noticed that more than three-fourths of the food remained on the table. Across from her the queen sipped at her drink, soft eyes on Jane. 

Jane popped something that looked like a grape but had a very different name and taste into her mouth. It crunched under her teeth, sweet and salty all at once. "These are delicious," she said, reaching for her drink. A stronger version of apple juice was the closest Jane could describe it as. It might have been a few mixed fruits, she considered, the taste of it almost familiar but entirely unrecognisable. Asgard, she noted, didn't do much in the ways of condiments, but the food hardly needed them. Everything was rich in flavour and texture.

"I am glad you have enjoyed them, my dear." Her eyes drifted to the table. "Do not restrain yourself for my sake though. I am the mother of two boys, I have seen the worst."

Jane grinned, "I'm sure. But I'm good, full even. Believe it or not this is the most I've probably eaten in the last month."

Frigga's eyes grew wide, and she reached for Jane's hand. "My dear girl, do they not feed you on Midgard?"

Under Frigga's hand, Jane warmed. It reflected in her face. "They do, I didn't mean to imply— I work too much. At least that's what I'm told."

The queen's brow raised and an amused light filled her eyes. "Oh yes, I am familiar with these ways. It is the ways of scholars and kings. Thor, however, always did have a hearty appetite."

That made Jane smile. "I guess. I like to work." Jane bit her lip, "I actually wanted to see the palace's library, if that was okay."

Frigga squeezed and held Jane's hand for a brief moment and then reached for a piece of bread. It crumbled perfectly under the queen's hands. She took a small bite, her eyes never leaving Jane's. Jane hoped that whatever the queen was looking for in her she would find. 

"You still search for answers and strive to put to rights my sons’ wrongs," Frigga said, taking a slow drink. It wasn't a question, but still Jane nodded. Frigga's eyes seemed to glow. She set her glass down and stood. Jane followed suit. "I believe our scholars would have much to learn from you, Jane Foster."

"Are we going to the library?" Jane blurted out, barely managing to not trip on the hem of the new dress as she walked alongside the queen.

Frigga grinned. "In due time, you will. First, I promised my son I would show you to the training yard if he had not been able to join us. Make sure _he_ shows you the library. I am sure some of the instructors from his youth would be pleased to see him step back in its halls." She added, the lightness in her tone making Jane smile. 

"Thor wasn't big on studying?"

Frigga reached out and slipped her arm through Jane's, tapping Jane's forearm affectionately. "My eldest was always more a student of active pursuits."

"Then I'll be sure to make sure he shows me." Jane giggled. She was joking about Thor with his mother, the queen. Her life officially could not get weirder. 

"Jane, I am glad you are here." Frigga said after a few minutes of walking in silence. "He has mentioned to you his discussion with his father." Again, it wasn't a question.

"Yes," said Jane.

Frigga nodded, unsurprised. "My husband worries, but that is the burden of a king. Do not let their burdens worry you."

"I'd like to talk to him, the king," Jane mentioned. "Again, if it's possible, I wouldn't want to presume, but I feel I should talk to him myself. I'm not here to threaten anything."

Frigga gave her an assessing side-long glance. "Of course you are not, and are well within your rights to ask for an audience. Thor has already asked and—"

"I want one myself." The words rushed out of her. Part of her cringed at interrupting the queen, but she kept on. "I'll speak to him with Thor, of course, but I'd like to speak to him myself."

The queen's eyes shone. She leaned forward and touched Jane's cheeks with her lips.

"I am very glad you've come to Asgard, Jane Foster." 

That's when Jane realised they had stopped by a large archway. Jane could hear the grunts and sounds of metal clanging together. The archway opened into a large arena that blended into the palace's grounds. The undercurrent of static electricity in the air was what caught Jane's attention first. It got heavier as she and Frigga moved into the arena towards where Thor stood in middle of a circle, Sif standing opposite him. 

They were dirty and sweaty, long staffs in their hands. They had not noticed the newcomers. Thor spun his staff towards Sif with a speed that had Jane already wincing for the other women. 

Except Sif blocked it at the last second and electricity crackled from each staff. Jane, who never had really been interesting in any sort of fighting, found herself enraptured by the moves being performed in front of her. And to her surprise the weapons. She thought of Darcy’s taser but the staffs seems to be crackling with energy even when they weren’t striking at each other. They clearly had to be activated though, as Jane caught a stand full of dormant staffs on a stand. She wondered about the activation process and the amount of joules they had to be exerting and where the power source was... if there was even one, she amended, thinking of Thor’s Mjolnir.

As she wondered on this, she barely would've seen Thor’s strike at Sif, if their staffs hadn’t crossed and sparked bright, making Jane blink, as Sif held off and pushed back.

Once during the weeks of working in the Tower, Darcy had forced Jane, Tony, and Bruce away from the lab for a break and they had somehow ended up watching a sparring session between Steve and Natasha. Jane couldn't help but think back to that moment, as she watched the fight in front of her. But outside Thor and Steve's basic physical similarities and Sif and Natasha's slighter builds, there were hardly any other comparisons. They didn't adapt themselves to the space they inhabited like Steve and Natasha did. They owned it. 

And it showed on their faces. 

Grins flashed in time to their hits.

They moved like the weapons they normally carried at their sides. Sif was sharp and fierce, the staff less a tool and more an extension of her body that she used as such. She struck at Thor fast, efficiently, knowing where to hit and where to follow her hits in such ways that had Thor losing his ground. Ground that he would regain in a second after a successful block or strike, because Thor only seemed to move forward. Hard, brutal swipes of his staff pushed Sif back until she gained her ground again. 

Next to her, the queen leaned in. "They will not stop until one of them yields or falls."

It struck Jane that they could probably fight for hours, maybe already had, but she caught the way Thor's feet moved in the circle and how Sif's countered. Sif's strikes concentrated on Thor's upper body only a fraction of the time, but if she landed a good hit at his legs he'd go down. 

Just then Thor's ' _unf_ ' sounded across the training area as Sif landed a blow and he hit the ground, flat on his back.

Even before he levered himself up, Jane and Frigga were making their way to them. Sif was leaning on her staff grinning smugly at Thor and looked up as they neared. The Warriors Three bowed to the queen and smiled at Jane as they passed them. Volstagg sent Jane a wink that had her grinning and waving back. 

"Thor, you might want to consider bettering yourself; it seems that already your skills with the staff have the Lady Jane looking elsewhere," Sif said, grinning sharply, see Jane approach. She touched her fist to her chest and bowed her head to Frigga. 

Thor's head snapped back, his eyes widening as he finally took note of them. 

"Mother, Jane!" He smiled, standing and absently tossing the staff to Sif who caught it easily, rolling her eyes.

Bounding up to them, he bent to take and kiss their hands. He kissed his mother's much quicker than he did Jane's. His lips lingering on Jane's knuckles, he kept his eyes focused on her face, and did not let go straight away. Jane pressed her lips together, fighting the giggles that threatened to escape her. This was never going to get old. From the teasing light that came into his eyes, it appeared he knew just what it did to her. Charming bastard.

Pulling her hand back to her side once he let go, she rubbed at her knuckles with her thumb. Whether it was a reaction born out of either the scratchiness of his beard or the tingles she would never tell him if he ever asked. Jane narrowed her eyes at him. Thor's smile never left his face.

He turned that smiling face to his mother as he straightened and Jane caught his scent: sweat and the slight afterburn of ozone. She licked her lips. Didn’t catch Thor’s gaze as his eyes flicked back to her.

"Thor, you missed my meal with Jane. It surprised me as you were so insistent in joining," Frigga said, lips curved in amusement. "I have come to scold you, and be sure you take proper care and attention in showing Jane all that she wishes."

Eyes drifting to Jane, Thor put on one excellent looking pout that almost had her laughing out loud. "Of course, Mother. It was remiss of me and I shall do my best to make up for such ungentlemanly behaviour at once… After I bathe," he corrected himself. He turned to Jane, "Of course, that is if Jane still wishes for me escort her and her affections have not been stolen by unbecoming characters." 

Jane bit at her cheek, and clasped her hands behind her back, because she was pretty sure she was two-seconds away from making out with him in front of his mother. Instead she made a show of tilting her head, considering. "I don't think Sif’s unbecoming at all."

Laughter filled the arena, from everyone including Thor, who only pouted for a second before joining them. He took Jane's hand into his and pulled her close.

"This only means I will have to battle for your affections even more adamantly." 

Jane rolled her eyes, but smiled. "You do that."

A delicate clearing of the throat had Jane's attention turning back to Frigga, who had a knowing look, and gleam in her eye. Jane flushed red. She knew that look. She remembered that look from her own mother's eyes the one time she met Donald and that look screamed _china patterns_. She wasn't sure what the Asgard equivalent to china patterns was, but it seemed that Thor understood the look in mother's face too, because while he didn't let go off Jane's hand, there was suddenly about a foot more of space between them. 

"I swear upon my honour that I will show Jane all she wishes during her stay with us, Mother. And tomorrow I promise I will not miss our morning meal."

Frigga nodded, the edges of her lips softening. "I would not expect anything less, my son. I will leave you all to your day then. I have a feast to plan." She moved back to the archway that led back to the palace halls, nodding her good-byes to the other occupants of the room as they bowed. 

Thor said goodbye to his mother.

Jane did the same, then blinked and looked up at him. "Wait, feast?"

Thor only grinned.

 

-

 

True to his word, Thor showed her the library, promising the Hall of Magic for later. After he had excused himself to clean up and change after training, leaving her with Sif and the Warriors Three for company while he did, he led her down large halls to what was possibly the largest library Jane had ever seen. 

Overcome by the space and the texts brought forth, it took Jane about three minutes to realise her first obstacle in continuing her research on Asgard: 

The written language barrier. All of it was written in languages she could not even read. 

Standing at Thor's side as he introduced her to the scholars that took care of the library, Jane got the distinct feeling that the only reason they weren't booting her out was because of Thor himself. As she asked about texts on the Bifrost and how it functioned the scholars answered not looking at her, but at Thor, and it was Thor's bidding that brought the volumes and scrolls out. Jane thanked them, but they hardly acknowledged her, bowing their head to Thor. She tried not to take it all to heart as she followed Thor to a table, their arms full. 

It was roughly after flipping through the first few pages of the first volume she opened that she realised it. Her heart felt as if was being crushed in one of the sages' hands. 

The pages were full, but she couldn't understand the words on them.

Her distress must have shone on her face because Thor leaned closer. 

"Jane, are you all right?"

She dropped her arms to the desk and lowered her forehead to them, groaning, then turned her face up him. "I can't read this." She waved one hand to the text, lowering her voice. "I should have realised it because oh yeah, I'm on another world, but I understand you and you understand me when we speak that I didn't think that your written language would be a problem."

Thor looked at the text in front of them and then back at her, frowning. "It is the All-Speak that allows us to verbally communicate. I, too, should have realised that the written word would present us some trouble." 

Jane sighed, eyeing the alien language written in front of her. She felt that if she squinted hard enough she could make sense of it. "I mean, I guess I could do some of the basic work by recreating what I was doing back home, but it would really help to understand how your science—your magic works. I want to understand how your magic works."

"And you shall," said Thor, touching her wrist. He bit his lip and then his eyes lit. "And I believe that for once I can be of help in this."

"Hmmm?"

Thor stood, arms scooping up everything that they'd brought. "Come, Jane. We will need a place to work and I have never been fond of the library."

Jane scrambled up after him, grabbing at the few scrolls he missed. "Wait, where are we going? Can we even take these out of here?" she asked, aware that several pairs of eyes followed them as the walked towards the library doors. A few of the sages even called out to Thor.

Turning to the them, Thor gave them a quick self-assured smile, "Do not worry over these texts, upon my honour as your prince I will see that no harm comes to them as I and the Lady Jane study them." A second later Thor was out of the library without a look back. Jane felt herself blush bright red as she nodded her thanks and rushed after him, still too aware of the gazes that followed their departure.

"Thor!" she said, running up to him. "Can you even do that?"

He grinned at her, cocky. "I believe I just did."

"I'm pretty sure they all want to kill me now." She huffed, blowing away the loose strands of hair that fell across her face as she followed him to wherever the hell he was talking her. "Where are we going?"

Thor shifted the load in his arm, glancing back at the hall in confusion. "Nobody would ever think to be discourteous to you, Jane, and if any do I shall have words with them. They should be thankful that you have put your mind to helping Asgard in this time of need."

"That's sweet, but that still probably doesn't stop people from thinking certain things. And really, where are we going?"

A new hallway opened up before them and Jane noticed that they were heading back towards the area of the palace where her room was. Fulla was suddenly trailing them, making Jane wonder where she came from. Had Darcy been with her she would have been sure to point out the handmaiden's ninja like skills in a second. Jane pushed down the sudden and strong want for her friend.

Thor stopped and motioned for two guards to open the doors they stood in front of. 

"My lady," Thor said, waving his arms best he could as they were full at the room in front of her. 

Gingerly, Jane stepped in, Thor right behind her. She took in the room, the shelves, desk, and couches, quirking an eyebrow at him. "And this is?"

"Your new place of work. You said that you would need help reading these texts, then I will help you," he said, smiling like a little boy who was giving the girl he liked a flower. Jane blinked, her entire body felt as if it had been given an electric charge. She was definitely taking the flower he was offering.

The room mimicked a study, almost split in half, with large sofas and comfortable chairs on one side and a large table and bookshelf on the other. A high and open window looked out into the gardens. She thought about Tony’s large living rooms in the Tower, except more golden.

Her smile bloomed. 

"You're going to help me translate your language so I can work?"

Thor set down the load of texts in his arms on the large table at one side of the room, and reached out to cupped her face. "Did I not swear upon my honour, not hours ago, I would show you all that you wished?"

She tilted her face up to his, "Yeah, but I thought that was a metaphorical thing."

Thor grinned and touched his mouth to hers softly. "I've never done well with metaphors. Nor with my studies, but I will do my best to help you with yours."

She leaned back. "You really want to be my translator?"

He followed her forward, eyes serious, "I will assist in all that you wish."

Jane laughed; it was an odd happy laugh seeing as it was mostly muffled by Thor's lips. They covered hers fully and she heard the gentle closing of the doors of the room behind her as she lifted her hands to his shoulders.

 

-

 

That night, before Jane was to experience her first Asgardian dinner, Thor continued her tour of the palace and grounds that had started the day before with the throne room.

Thor had called it the "grandest room in all of Asgard". He hadn't been joking. 

Before it all the other rooms she had visited seemed small and Jane had already come to the conclusion there was nothing small in Asgard, save maybe her. 

Thor led her down the long hall, hand light at her elbow, guiding as she stared up at the arched ceilings and the carved knots and runes on the floor and pillars. 

As they neared the throne, Thor explained its history, how his grandfather Bor was the first to sit there, and continued on to talk about his failed coronation. Just as they reached it they heard footsteps echoing into the room.

His shadow seemed elongated on the walls and from where he stood, Odin, staff in hand and eye shielded, seemed every bit the uncompromising warrior god king. Thor had a similar presence, but there was brightness and openness to him that Odin lacked. Even Frigga felt warm and soft, but fierce, to Jane. There was nothing warm or soft in Odin. She swallowed as he approached.

"Father," Thor said, leading Jane forward. She felt his fingers curl around her hand as he tucked her arm to his side. "I am glad we have found you here. May I present Jane Foster, of Midgard. I have been showing her city."

"Thor," Odin said, eye sliding from Thor to rest heavily on Jane. "Lady Foster."

Jane nodded and curtsied quickly, hopefully less awkwardly than she had with Frigga, as she and Thor reached the edges of the steps that lead to Odin and his throne. "Your Majesty."

His gaze roamed over her and Jane felt distinctly she was being measured up. She stood taller, reminded of the many men in her graduate classes that looked down upon her in her studies. She hadn't backed down to them. She wasn't going to back down now.

"Thank you for welcoming me," she smiled, tilting her chin up. "Everything here is amazing. Incredible really." 

Odin looked from her to Thor and she could feel Thor's arm tense under her hand. Odin looked back at her. "I am glad you have felt comfortable here, Lady Foster. May your visit be more tranquil than your arrival."

It was impossible to miss the cool tone. Jane still kept her smile in place, eyes drifting to Thor for a beat. She squeezed his arm before looking back to his father. "I hope so, too."

Odin's eyes stared hard at her, before looking away. He nodded to Thor and turned to leave the room. "I will speak to you later, Thor. Jane Foster."

She and Thor stood in silence as Odin's footsteps echoed out of throne room. Jane let out a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding when they couldn't hear him anymore. She huffed out a thin laugh and turned to Thor who was frowning after his father.

"Well, he was friendly." 

Thor cupped her cheek and kissed her brow. "I am sorry for his manner. He..."

"Doesn't like me and isn’t happy I’m here. Hard to miss."

Thor shook his head, "I was going to say he is distrustful of outsiders and often brusque." He sighed and his lips flickered between a smile and frown. "He is also wrong to feel that in regards to you."

Jane tried not to feel insulted or hurt that Thor's father didn't seem to like or trust her, but it was hard. She leaned into Thor and raised herself on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Yes, he is."

They stood quiet in the throne room, Thor’s arm around her waist, for a more seconds just enjoying each other's company when Thor dropped a soft kiss on her lips. "Come, let us find some fun. You have not gone on the skifs yet. We will ride one out to Heimdall, where you can witness the Observatory repair."

“Skifs?”  
Thor began guiding them down to the courtyard where he pointed at what looked to be floating boats. 

“When you arrived I flew us back to the palace, but normally horses or the skifs are used to travel the longer distances in the realm. Their mechanics are similar to what I believe SHIELD called it’s Hellicarriers.” Jane immediately felt herself brighten at the sight of them. Asgard had hovercrafts! She smiled wide and leaned up for another kiss. She knew exactly why he was distracting her with science stuff and she couldn't adore him more it for it.

"You know just what to say, don't you?"

“I am learning.” 

Eyes skimming over the design and trying to figure out the propulsion system as they stepped on, Jane turned to Thor. “Does the library have blueprints for them?”

“When we return we will find you copies. I’m sure some of the blacksmith’s would be happy to show you them.”

“Seriously, just keep talking like that.”

 

_.the bright one_

 

It was in the room Thor had taken Jane earlier that they spent the rest of the day once the returned from the Bifrost. Thor showed Jane the basics of the Aesir language and his limited understanding of the more advanced magics to make up for his father's nature as she asked. He made a mental reminder to get her access to the holograms, get a smaller projector of her own possibly, and ask his mother for help with some of the theory behind the advanced magics. She and Loki had always been much more skilled at them than him.

Jane, for the moment however, did not seem to mind his lack of knowledge on them. She sat at his side soaking it all in, writing in an old journal he had found in his quarters the night before. His gift to her. His other gift, the one he had held in his pockets for months and carried during his visit to Midgard, he noticed, hung around her neck, dipping into the edges of her dress, making him smile. The journal had been a gift itself, from Loki long ago, when his brother still had tried to instil good study habits in Thor. They never took, but Thor had not thrown away the journal and remembered it when thinking to ask his mother for materials for Jane to work with. He’d still asked his mother, which would mean that after a few days Jane would have all the materials she would need, but until then the old journal was serving her well. 

She filled its pages as he spoke, writing quickly with her Midgardian pen. He had showed her their own writing implements but she seem more comfortable with her own. Its ink still covered the journal’s pages well enough. She questioned him readily, never shy to ask him to repeat or explain something. Translations of the runes covered pages and he showed her the basic structure of their written language as he remembered learning it centuries ago.

When they reached a lull Thor looked out to see night falling on Asgard.

Jane leaned back in her chair, hair falling over her shoulders. She looked out the windows where the night was growing darker. A thick strand slid across her cheek. A few hours ago she had slipped her fingers in her hair and pulled apart the hairstyle that had twisted it back, citing that the tight style was giving her a headache. Thor's fingers itched to touch her hair. He busied his fingers with the pins she had pulled out and laid on the table instead.

"Hey,"Jane turned to him, "how long are the days here?"

Thor stopped fiddling with the pins and looked to the window. Night was heavy in Asgard when it fell fully upon the realm, but it would not do so for hours. Manegarm had just started his chase of Máni. The cosmos sparkled on the realms' edges. Twilight covered the kingdom. 

Thor did not like the shiver the word caused in him. He focused on Jane question instead. 

"Thirty-six hours, and only fifteen of night," he answered her, smiling as her eyes widened at his response. 

"Oh yeah, that explains it," said Jane, rolling her neck. Her hand rubbed at the curve where became her shoulder. 

Tongue feeling thick in his mouth, Thor picked up one of her pins again. It was thin and easily breakable in his hands. He looked at Jane. Sitting in the half lit room, soft shadows falling across her face, she looked as delicate as the pin, but he could not imagine her breaking. He would not. His father was wrong. Nor would she break Asgard or under its weight.

"What have I just explained?" Leaning forward he tucking a wayward lock of hair behind her ear.

Jane turned a soft look at him, leaning into the touch of his palm. "Time difference, inter-stellar jet lag, why my stomach is suddenly calling out for food so hard I'm surprised you can't hear it."

Guilt flooded Thor. 

He'd forgotten. 

Jane was mortal. 

She might be on Asgard, donning the clothes of his people, but she was still mortal and required rest and food much more readily than he did. For while his body did require food, and he always enjoyed it, it could go without it for long periods of time, much longer than any mortal. Immediately he stood, strode to the doors, where Fulla appeared, bowing. Calling for a meal, he asked that it be taken to his smaller, private, dining hall that he and his companions used. 

Fulla nodded and departed, assuring him that she would return when the meal was ready. 

Thor turned back to Jane, who was sitting in her chair, staring at him. She held her pen in hand, her feet poked out of the bottom of her dress, bare, and he wanted nothing more than cross the room and kiss her.

He moved towards her and she spoke. Her tone was light, but her eyes were not.

"You didn't have to do that. I've worked myself harder and longer without nothing more than a Pop-Tart in my system."

Thor chuckled, remembering the boxed treats he indulged in when on Midgard. Reaching her, he leaned down, braced his hands on the arms of her chair.

"I should have not forgotten that your body requires more timely sustenance than mine."

She laid her hand flat on his forearms, free of his bracers. Her skin was cooler than his, though not by much. "Humans can go without food for days. You don't have to worry so much about me."

"But they should not."

She grinned, "Good point. Been studying up on human physiology?"

He smirked, warmly. "Recent events lead me to believe it would be advantageous for myself to be familiar with the subject."

Never would he tire of Jane's soft blush and how it coloured her cheeks, neck, and collarbones. He could see the tension building in her shoulders as she gripped his forearms, and felt the twitch of her fingers against his skin. Her breath hitched up, and her legs shifted — he felt the edges of her bare feet plant themselves by his own booted ones — seeking a solid stance.

Jane was not one of subtly. 

Thor did not mind for neither was he. 

When she lifted herself up, using her grip on his arms to push herself closer, the feel of her mouth covering his came as no surprise. 

The pen dropped to table and rolled to the floor.

He thought of the kiss in her rooms, just a few halls away, mere hours after she had arrived. He thought of the kiss in the desert. How she pressed herself against him both times. How his arms always sought to pull her closer. How each kiss had been a surprise and yet not. 

And how each time he knew it was not the proper way to court a maiden, yet he could not bring himself to care. Neither, it seemed, did Jane.

Just like now as she sighed against him and licked at his lips.

Thor lifted her closer, and off the floor, one arm holding up against him.

Her hands moved from his arms and buried themselves in his hair, arms tight around his neck. Her thighs pressing against his hips seeking leverage. 

The chair scraped across the floor as he moved them. 

He sucked at her lips, almost groaning when she nibbled back and opened up to him. Licking his way inside her mouth, he groaned as her tongue, warm and wet, pressed against his. He closed a hand over her thigh, pulling her higher. Jane’s grip shifted at that, holding herself to him with one arm tight around his neck and shoulders, her other hand reached down and pulling at the skirts of her dress. 

He wondered why for a second before he felt the change in how her legs wrapped around his waist in a more solid grip, squeezing, and he grinned against her mouth. Turning them to the table he sat her at its edge. Gently tugging at hair on the nape of her neck he changed the angle of the kiss. 

He could feel her smile against his lips and her neck arched under his hands. 

Biting at her mouth, Thor pulled away and moved to kiss his way down the line of her jaw to her curve of her neck that had enticed him minutes ago. He swept her hair back, licking at her pulse point, enjoying how it he could feel it beat under his lips and tongue.

Jane moaned. Her fingers in his hair curled. Her short nails scratched at his scalp, and her teeth closed over his earlobe. She squeezed him tighter.

He groaned, started pushing her back onto the table. Papers shuffled under them.

It was then that Jane pulled back. 

Her hands dropped to his chest, pushing at him slightly. "Wait, wait," she sounded breathless.

Thor straightened, but did not fully move away from her. Her face was flushed, lips red and swollen from their kisses, her eyes were wide and dark, but it was the hint of wetness on her mouth and on the curve of her neck where his had just been that threaten to undo him.

"Jane?" he sounded just as breathless as she did.

Her eyes roamed over him, lingering on his mouth. He licked his lips. Her hands fisted into the layers of his vest and she let out a soft sigh.

"The work," voice thick, Jane looked over her shoulder at the texts that littered the table she sat on. The edge of her dress skimmed the open journal. The skin on her neck caught the light as she turned, the slick trail from his lips flashed. 

He leaned forward and retraced trail with his tongue. Jane shuddered against him, tilting her head back. Her skin stretched under his lips. 

"The texts, Thor," she mumbled, pulling him closer with her hands, "we promised we wouldn't mess it up."

He pressed a kiss where her jaw met her neck. "It shall be unharmed, I promise. I will not compromise your work."

Jane turned back to him. Her eyes glowed, lips curving as she studied his face. "You're a bad liar."

Laughing, Thor picked her up from the desk, still holding her against him. Jane's arms curled around his shoulders, her thighs flexed by his waist. She rolled her eyes at him, cheeks dimpling. She was right about the texts, but also that it was not the time nor the place for their actions. 

"You are not the first to tell me so."

The door sounded. They looked at each other and nodded. Thor lowered Jane, while still keeping her close. Her dress floated around her legs as if it had never been misplaced. 

"Our meal is ready," he said, pressing their lips together for one quick kiss.

Jane held him close for a second longer before her fingers carded through her hair and slipped back into her shoes. "You look like you were just making out on a table," she teased. 

He offered his arm and winked. "Then I will take comfort in the knowledge that I am not the only one."

She stuck her tongue out at him, taking his arm, and rested her cheek against his bicep with a soft sigh. Thor pushed the doors open, smiling to himself.


	3. 0.3

_.interlude: new habits ___

__By the end of the following day it seemed the whole realm knew about Jane._ _

__Even with Jane around, Thor kept very nearly to the same daily routines as before, but his presence in the libraries and around the palace with Jane at his side, were noticeable to many. There were, unsurprisingly, a few new changes to his day._ _

__The most obvious one was helping Jane translate the Asgardian texts. She was quick enough with the holograms, her fingers plucking the images in the air and shifting them about with ease, but the runes proved a more time consuming task. A task that once Sif and the Warriors Three had learned of they too decided to join and help Jane in understanding Asgard's ways and tales._ _

__It was heartening to see his friends take to Jane. Volstagg and Hogun quite enjoyed in helping with Jane's research and study. Volstagg had his many tales of the realms, knowing more stories than Thor, and having the patience of a father knowing when the runes did not come easily to Jane. And Hogun who hailed from Vanaheim provided her with information on the way his people differed from Asgard. Sometimes a shadow would pass through Sif's eyes as she watched Jane work, but Thor did not mention it. It was not a look of ill will, but edged on sadness, and he did not want to make his friend uncomfortable asking a question he feared he knew the answer to._ _

__Another change in particular stood out._ _

__He'd never eaten with a set schedule before._ _

__Food was always available when he pleased, and the only set meals he’d ever had in his life were when he dined with his mother and at feasts. His people were able to survive without sustenance for weeks, though not advisable, but he found quickly that he needed to take note of Jane's habits as much as she took note of his. He'd never been one for sitting still too long. A fact he had not been able to hide from Jane, who on their second day of research had kicked him out with a kiss to his cheek telling him to come find her for supper._ _

__Jane, however, when working, seemed to forget about the needs of her body. He noticed it one afternoon when they rode back from the edges of Járnviðr. His old journal was filling rapidly under her care._ _

__The forest was light with its whispers that day, as if it had settled just for her, gifting her presence with the sound of birds and blooming trees. Not the eerie, quiet shadows Thor encountered before._ _

__When they had arrived back to the palace, she’d leaned heavily into him, as if winded, looking pale and her stomach rumbled loud enough for him to think Volstagg was nearby. That was when she had blushed and admitted that she had not eaten since their dinner the day before and they had spent the whole of the morning exploring the wood, not having taken a meal with them._ _

__That very afternoon he made sure that Fulla called for him to eat with Jane at least thrice a day— a new custom that Volstagg quickly warmed to._ _

__All in all, Thor did not mind his new routine in the very least._ _

__

_.reflections_

__The Bifrost was exclusive to Asgard, but the other realms must have their own ways to travel, Jane thought. She considered her Bridge. It was heavily influenced by the Bifrost for obvious reasons, and it had managed to connect to the Bifrost somewhat, but it hadn’t been stable. Clearly. And it hadn’t been…_ _

__The more she thought about it she felt she’d been called up. (Falling up. Falling up. Fire on the branches.) Jane shook her head. She needed to talk to Heimdall about just how the Bifrost worked on its fundamental levels._ _

__The crystal pathway resonated the feedback of the energy source that powered the Observatory. Maybe that had been the problem with hers. The crystal path seemed to have constant feedback -- constant magic -- pulsing through it, even now as the Observatory was still being rebuilt, and even when it was broken, according to Thor. It never stopped receiving energy-- magic._ _

__(Heartbeat of Yggdrasill.)_ _

__It was every constant. Eternal. Like Asgard._ _

__(why did she dream of a tree burning from the inside out?)_ _

__

_.odinson_

__Near the end of the first week of Jane's arrival, as they lunched with his mother she mentioned how some of the court was showing interest in formally meeting Jane. It was not a surprise. Whispers followed them everywhere, even outside the palace walls when Thor showed Jane the city._ _

__At his side, under the table, Jane reached and gripped his hand. Thor could not deny his own anxiousness, his thumb running across the back of Jane's hand. Sif flashed a smile across the table at them and made a comment that shifted the conversation away from the topic. Thor shot a grateful look at his friend. Sif smiled back._ _

__It was not that he did not want others to meet Jane. Secretly, he wished to take her across the whole realm and show her all she wished. However, the implications of his mother's words were another matter entirely. Truth was: the realm would look to their king as much as their prince and queen concerning Jane and her mortal standing._ _

__And that pricked at Thor for one very simple reason._ _

__His father still had not spoken again to Jane since their brief encounter in the throne room._ _

__Between Jane's steadfast work and Thor's daily activities they were often in company of others. Meals were shared with his mother, Sif, and the Warriors Three. They ventured into the city and taverns, showing Jane Asgard where curious eyes (usually Jane’s) and kind greetings followed them. Even other members of the palace addressed her easily, but his father remained separate._ _

__Thor sought to remedy that._ _

__So during one of the brief moments they spent apart, Thor, unannounced, walked into his father's private study. Huginn and Muninn raised their voices at his arrival._ _

__The All-Father smiled at his son._ _

__Thor did not smile back._ _

__"Father, I have a matter to discuss with you.”_ _

__His father’s smile slid away._ _

__Thor sighed. “It has been several days since Jane's arrival and you have not yet granted her the honour of a proper audience," he said, grave._ _

__Gungnir’s end struck the end of Hliðskjálf as his father's grip changed._ _

__"There are other matters pertaining to the realm that require my attention more so than your guest, Son. I would have thought you were aware of that," his father said, spitting out the word guest like a curse that burned his tongue. Thor forced his jaw tight as not to shout at his father. "The Nine are strife with impatience and discord, and your mortal's arrival does not disquiet matters."_ _

__Thor bristled, at his side Mjölnir hummed, sensing his unhappiness. "We have already discussed Jane's arrival, father. I will not have her motives questioned any further. She strives to help us mend the Bifrost, do you not see that?"_ _

__"Your mother speaks kindly of her," he allowed._ _

__"Mother speaks _to_ her as well," Thor shot back._ _

__His father exhaled, clearly annoyed. "I do not have the time for a mortal's whims, Thor."_ _

__"They are not whims. Mother's feast is tomorrow. I entreat you to, at the very least, speak to Jane once more before it takes place."_ _

__"A week is nothing to the Aesir," his father said, full of meaning. "Many have waited longer than that for an audience with the All-Father."_ _

__Thor wanted to growl. He wanted to hit something. He wanted to shove at his father. He cut that last thought off sharp and fast._ _

__"This is different." His voice wavered on the edge of a shout._ _

__His father’s mouth thinned. "Why, son of mine? Why do you champion for this mortal woman you've barely known?"_ _

__The answer came swiftly to Thor. It burned brightly inside him as star and felt as lasting as the light of Sol._ _

__He could not speak it though. Not to his father in his moment, not when Jane hadn't heard the words first, but he felt them settle against his ribcage, in his lungs and heart. A thick, comforting certainty enveloped him where before he’d feared those feelings had been the rush of adrenaline, lust, and affection from those few days on Midgard, but since Jane arrived on Asgard all the rush had settled. The adrenaline of his time on Midgard was long in the past, the longing pull to see her again sated by her presence, but his feelings had not changed, not the desire for her, or the care for her wellbeing. The months apart had only let him be able to study his feelings. Let them have time to settle and dissipate but they never did. Suddenly he felt they might not ever. That warm pulse in his chest flared at the thought._ _

__He loved her. Maybe not as well as he could or should, yet, but he did._ _

__Thor did not say the words though._ _

__They burned in his throat. They burned harder under his father’s gaze as it hardened as though he saw the truth Thor had just discovered for himself reflected in Thor's face._ _

__"She deserves your courtesy, father. She cared for me during my time on Midgard. She risked her own life in trying to bridge the realms again and she still does not give up on the task." There was a beat of silence. Thor took a step forward, meeting his father's hard look. "And I care for her, father. I've extended my intentions to court her and have in mind to make it official at the feast."_ _

__His father stood at that. Gungnir sounded against the floor as he moved from his throne, descending the stairs, slowly, deliberately. Each step felt like a chance his father was giving Thor to retreat. Thor did not._ _

__When his father reached him, he sighed._ _

__"I am joining your mother in her gardens shortly. Perhaps I shall see this mortal woman you both favour so as I've heard she spends some time with your mother there."_ _

__"Thank you, father," said Thor, nodding his head._ _

__His father gave a gruff huff and walked from the throne room._ _

__When his father's cape fluttered behind the farthest wall Thor took a relieved breath._ _

__Walking out the throne room, he headed to the palace's library where he had left Jane earlier. He found her in near the same position she'd been when he left. The only change in her appearance was the angle in which she sat and the tense line of her brow. She was mouthing the words she read._ _

_the bright bridge, called Bifrost, that linked Asgard to the other worlds. The gatekeeper, Heimdall, born of his nine mothers held an eternal station at its edge, ever watchful in his duty to protect the Realm. His great sword not only a weapon, but a key to the realms; none pass without his knowledge._

__It was odd to hear Jane as she muttered the words. She read the language slowly, as if trying to absorb the words, the All-Speak sounded thick and slow on her tongue. _Idunn, the good and gracious, who holds the charge of the golden apples--__ _

__Still she was picking it up much faster than he had thought, but her mind was quick and absorbed everything around her maybe he should not be so surprised._ _

__Jane looked up as he approached. Her eyes brightened and the text in her hand closed. She kept a finger between the pages. On the desk she had a holo disc open, a miniature image of Yggdrasil flickered gold, casting shadows with her lashes._ _

__"Hey, there," she said, quietly. "Sif just left. I think she likes the library even less than you do."_ _

__"It was always more my brother's space," Thor said, unthinking. "We could always be found in the training yards, and Loki among his books." Inwardly, he winced, waiting for a flinch from Jane at Loki's mention. Most did not speak of his brother these days, and if Loki's name was spoken it was not always favourably so._ _

__Jane only nodded, not asking for more, but not looking away at the mention of Loki's name. She patted the empty chair next to her._ _

__Behind him one of the scholars passed through the stacks, their gaze resting on them for a second before moving on. Jane was not a rare sight in the library since her arrival, nor was Thor anymore, but they did not like to stay long. Neither were fully comfortable under curious eyes._ _

__"I'm sorry you were left alone."_ _

__"It's okay, I don't mind. I keep myself busy."_ _

__"That you do, Jane." He cupped her cheek, letting his thumb caress the edge of her eye, and sat at her side. Her ever present journal was open before her. He squinted at some of the markings. They were unfamiliar and familiar at the same time. His magic didn’t translate the written word naturally as quickly as it did speech, but he had spent time on Midgard and picked up more than enough to read Jane’s English._ _

__She smiled, "I was thinking tomorrow, we could go see Heimdall? I wanted to check some things out and maybe ask him some questions." Thor nodded. The book in her lap opened and she ran a finger across the lines of text. "It talks about how his sword is an anchor point in some ways, but I wonder if that's because of the sword itself, or about how and where it used to be inserted."_ _

__"The Observatory…"_ _

__She smiled, always amused about the SHIELD facility in Norway of the same name where she first found out Thor came back. Where, arguably, the second part of their journey to find each other began._ _

__"Yes, which is almost finished. It’s clearly a very important factor in being able to form the connection between the realms. Harnessing the energy of the Bridge, but the way you described it and the others have talked about it, it wasn't just by a whim that you'd travel to a place," she pulled her notebook to her, writing in quick, short strokes symbols._ _

__"Heimdall needed to know where you were going… have the coordinates… and the sword needed to be inserted— a starting sequence. So he's like a living telescope, pointing you in the direction of travel. The conduit harnessing the energy of the bridge, but now there's no output because the mechanism that conducted the energy outwards is gone, but Heimdall technically still has the power to see and the sword which are half of the whole system. He still can pull some power from the Bridge, which is dormant, or else I wouldn’t be here now..."_ _

__She kept moving her hand quickly across the page and then a symbol appeared in her writings. A memory sparked and Thor frowned._ _

__"Jane?"_ _

__She looked over to him, her writing did not stop. "Yeah, I know, techo-babble. Sorry. I think that's what drove Sif away, too."_ _

__He smiled gently at her light tone, trying not to let his thoughts run thicker with the worry he was starting to feel. "It is not that. It is…" he pointed to the symbol. "This symbol, you know it?" Then he caught sight of another that was also familiar to him, "And this one?"_ _

__Jane shot him a look, and then looked at where he was pointing._ _

__Her brows furrowed, she blinked slowly, and chuckled. "Yeah, of course. They're physics symbols. Math symbols. The coefficient of friction and uh," she paused, squinted at her own writing, "final angular velocity. Why?"_ _

__The knot that was twisting itself in Thor's stomach loosened. "I apologise, it was nothing. It is just… those symbols. They read elvish."_ _

__Jane's eyes widened and she stared hard at her work. "Elvish, really?"_ _

__Thor nodded, "Quite so. I am not overly familiar with the language, but as I looked at them I remembered a quest from my youth. We travelled to Álfheim in search of a lost necklace of my mother’s and we came upon some ancient ruins with symbols similar to these etched upon them."_ _

__"Do you know what they mean?" Jane asked, curiosity coating her voice._ _

__Thor swallowed. He did but the reminder made him nervous. Looking at Jane, eyes bright, waiting for his answer, he pushed his nerves back. It meant nothing, surely. A slight coincidence in symbols, shapes, and Jane's looping penmanship._ _

__"If my memory does not fail me they spoke of celestial phenomena as viewed from their realm."_ _

__Jane pulled her notebook closer, eyes darting from its pages to Thor's face. "Really?"_ _

__He nodded._ _

__She made a few notes, muttering under her breath, "Mathematical shorthand has coincided with Elvish symbols for discussing spatial events." She turned back to Thor, "Do you know any more Elvish? Because wow, I mean, it could be a complete coincidence, but what if there's mathematical constants that somehow share universal basic symbols. That’s pretty amazing!”_ _

__The knot that had loosened in Thor was once more feeling tighter and he was grateful that he did not have to lie to Jane._ _

__"I am sorry, Jane, I do not. Very few Aesir study the written word of other realms as the All-Speak allows us to communicate with all races."_ _

__Jane shook her head, a frown coming and going from her lips. "Which is another very interesting thing that I want to talk to you about, but," she sighed, leaning in her chair, "it's okay. I have more than enough to fill my time trying to figure your way of science. Maybe when the Bifrost is fixed I'll try my hand at learning Elvish."_ _

__Thor smiled, but did not share the eagerness that was reflected in Jane's face. Asgard's truce with Álfheim and Nornheim was a thin one. They would not openly welcome any Aesir to their realms._ _

__And with the state of things as they were…_ _

__Fingers brushed against his jaw._ _

__He looked at Jane. One corner of her mouth lifted. "Hey, what's up? You just went a million miles away."_ _

__There were too many things that worried him currently that he wanted to speak to her about, but one could be dealt with at the moment. The others would wait, for now._ _

__Tugging her closer, taking hold of the hand at his cheek and pressing his lips to it, he told her, "My father awaits with my mother in the gardens.."_ _

__"Oh," Jane said, swallowing thickly. Her hand held his tighter. "Okay."_ _

__

_.seeker_

__It wasn't her first time in the gardens. Or even her second. Jane walked them with Frigga after their shared morning meals before she went back to her work and Thor to his training. She had a feeling that both Thor and his mother conspired together in certain aspects of her new her daily schedule to get her outside the library and Hall of Magic because somehow they always ended up at the edges of the training area just as Thor finished in the mornings where he then changed and joined Jane._ _

__Still, all the comfort she normally felt in the gardens with its huge trees, colourful and extremely rare flowers — some of which made Jane wish she were a botanist; an actual bush of gold roses grew in the gardens, which Frigga had explained had been an old gift from Loki — was gone today. Tension filled her as it filled Thor. The muscle under her hand was coiled tight, like a band of rope under his skin, and Jane found herself absently stroking it._ _

__As they walked through the gardens, voices became clearer. Thor moved closer to her, his shoulders pushed back, a motion she unconsciously mirrored, and his free hand, previously rubbing at his Mjölnir’s handle, came up to squeeze the fingers that rested in the crook of his elbow._ _

__She glanced up at him._ _

__He was already looking at her._ _

__( _Deal? Deal._ )_ _

__Her mouth softened at the memory._ _

__Jane raised herself on her toes. It was barely a brush of lips, but it settled her. The tension in his brow softened. There was a light in his eyes she couldn't fully understand but something inside her shivered pleasantly; something slotting into place._ _

__"For luck."_ _

__He squeezed his fingers, his lips touched her forehead._ _

__"Not that we'll need it," she added, hoping she sounded braver than she felt._ _

__Thor laughed and bent to kiss quickly her again._ _

__They walked forward._ _

__

_.brave_

__That was how his father first saw them in the gardens. Together, with smiles on their faces and light in their eyes._ _

__As they reached his parents, it was his mother who stepped up to them first, surprising no one. Hands raised, she laid one on Thor's cheek and the other on Jane's bracketing them together within the space of her palms._ _

__"I did not think I would see either of you again today, at least not in the gardens," his mother smiled. Still holding their faces she turned to Father. "And I am now thrice blessed, seeing your father has joined me for a walk. Join us."_ _

__Thor thanked the stars and branches of Yggdrasil for his mother. "It would be our pleasure, mother."_ _

__Next to him Jane smiled. "Yes, thank you, your majesty. Majesties." She added, turning to curtsey to Odin as well. Thor had seen Jane interact with his mother to know she had stopped curtsying when she met with this mother at his mother’s behest, which is why he knew her actions belaid her nervousness. His father gave a curt nod._ _

__His mother did not let the moment lapse into an uncomfortable silence._ _

__"And I believe there was a story about a tree and a baby bird that Jane is meant to hear. Is that not so, Jane?" His mother moved forward and slipped herself between Thor and Jane, taking each of their arms in her, placing herself between them, as if adding a link in the chain of their arms, and faced Father._ _

__Thor was not oblivious to the picture that his mother constructed. Locked together in front of his father. His love for his mother grew more than he thought possible. She was truly wondrous and the strongest of them all._ _

__At his mother’s other side, Jane answered simply, as if she did not notice the move just made. "I believe so, Your Majesty. And I promised you one in turn."_ _

__Frigga led them forward to where Odin stood. "Yes. Something about a 'car' and my son?"_ _

__Thor groaned. "Jane, I would have thought you exhausted that tale. It cannot be the first time you've shared it."_ _

__"I can't help that people like to hear it," she leaned forward, catching his eye. "If you want I can tell the one about breakfast and the coffee mug."_ _

__Thor felt a flush heat spread across the back of his neck. "I did apologise."_ _

__"You did and Izzy told me it was adorable," she agreed and turned back his mother. "Actually, I think that's a better story. He was very sweet."_ _

__Frigga smiled between them. "Then that is the story I will hear, but first, Jane did you not want to know about the golden roses?"_ _

__Jane's eyes immediately went bright with curiosity. Thor did not think he would ever tire of the look._ _

__"Yes, I'd love to hear about them." She beamed at his mother, who smiled back._ _

__His father’s rough voice cut across Jane's enthusiasm. "A simple spell a young Loki did for his mother. Any master of magic could do such a thing."_ _

__Tone dismissive, Thor bristled, though for a moment he did not know if his frustration with his father was on Jane or on Loki’s behalf. He made to step forward, away from the curve of his mother's hold, but she stayed him, her fingers curling into his arm. She did not allow him to break the hold._ _

__It didn't matter if he had. Before either of them could speak, it was Jane's voice that floated through the air._ _

__"Simple, maybe, but ingenious. The queen tells me that they do not die, even when cut from their bushes. And while the outward appearance of the flower isn't something that can be consider a complicated matter to alter. We can do it on Earth with bioengineering and cross breeding the plants, or something as simple as dyes. However, the genetic manipulation so that not only the flower blooms gold but does not die when it's no longer attached to its provider of nutrients has to be considered a great achievement on a purely intellectual and conceptual level._ _

__"I know your people use magic in the way that my people use science, and maybe it is easier to alter and change the properties of a living organism with your magic than it is with our science. And it may be be simpler to wield it than science as it appears to be innate to your very beings, but there's a level of skill involved, that can't be discounted for how it’s used and who uses it." Jane paused, adding, "Your Highness. It was also a very sweet gesture, as the queen tells me, but I am interested in the mechanics of it as well."_ _

__Thor had felt his mother stiffen when Jane began speaking, but now, she only stood at Thor's side, a soft turn to her lips as she looked at Jane._ _

__"The mechanics of magic, Lady Jane?" His father’s one visible eyebrow raised._ _

__Jane stepped forward, leaving his mother's hold, nodding, "I guess, yes, I guess that would be one way to describe it. If magic to your people is a science then as a scientist I’d like to understand the way it works so it can better help with my work. It’s clearly natural, but also as I understand it’s taught in various manners. The skill set to change a flower’s cellular make up, or control the weather, or see the realms are all different but also specialised.”_ _

__Jane’s back was small, Thor could not help but note as she stood slightly before him, but the line of it was straight, her shoulders were steady, and he wanted nothing more that to pull her back against and kiss her head. He wanted to have her back press against his chest to make sure that nobody could ever harm the strength he saw in it._ _

__"You have a curious nature, Jane Foster," Odin said. He looked at Jane then at Thor. "Curiosity can lead down dangerous paths for the unprepared and unwise. It was a dangerous path that brought you here and one you nearly did not survived. Would not have, had it not been for Heimdall."_ _

__Thor could see Jane's throat work. He wanted to move towards her, but his mother held him firm. The tree leaves rustled in the wind and a thick moment of silence grew between the small group. He almost broke from his mother's hold then Jane spoke again._ _

__"And I’ll be forever grateful he managed to stabilize the connection enough to allow me through, but it was also a dangerous path that you sent your son on to find his brother. And it was a dangerous path that your son opened on my world," she head held high as she looked into his father's eye. Her stature seemed suddenly greater. "It seems we all can make unwise choices. Risk can be unavoidable at times, but sometimes the reward is worth it. Isn’t it?" She glanced, and rather purposely it felt, at Thor._ _

__Thor smiled._ _

__He wanted cross the small space between them and trace the curve of her cheeks with his lips and tell her that she was the brightest thing he'd ever seen._ _

__The hard set of his father's face did not change however he turned his gaze from Jane to Thor. "She speaks bluntly."_ _

__Thor grinned. "She does, Father."_ _

__"She speaks _truly_ , my king," said his mother at his side._ _

__Odin made a soft, gruff noise of assent at Frigga's words, looking back to Jane. "My son and wife tell me that you seek to mend the gap between the worlds once as well."_ _

__Jane blinked and nodded, "Yes, Your Majesty."_ _

__"So do we. I shall wish you luck on you endeavour, Lady Jane. My lady wife and son have put their faith in you, and I shall trust that their faith is not misplaced," said Odin, still hard and unyielding._ _

__"It isn't." Jane replied. Thor noticed how her hands at her side curled._ _

__His father turned to his mother and a look passed between— a silent communication Thor had seen many times growing up. When his mother's brows rose and his father nodded minutely in return Thor felt as if a load had been lifted off his shoulder._ _

__Frigga pushed forward, her hand patting Thor's arm once, before dropping away and looping Jane's arm through hers._ _

__"Now, Jane, that all this talk is done, let us continue on to the rose bushes so I may be able to continue the story of my sons, the tree, and bird without any further interruptions." She threw a hard yet teasing look at Thor and his father._ _

__Jane seemed grateful to be able to lean into his mother's side, murmuring a soft reply that Thor did not hear. Jane and his mother moved on. Thor and his father were left to follow them._ _

__"She is clever," said his father as the two women walked on._ _

__"She is brilliant."_ _

__"But, my son, a clever mortal is still a mortal, and Asgard is not a realm for mortals."_ _

__Thor swallowed. He turned to his father once he felt his face was schooled enough._ _

__"I am aware, Father. I do not doubt your words, however I remember the stories from my youth when you would say Asgard was not for the jotunn and yet Loki lived well here for many years. And so I will choose to believe that Asgard may one day be a realm for Jane."_ _

__His father flinched at the mention of Loki and a part of Thor was glad._ _

__"Loki was a different matter altogether."_ _

__"For me, so is Jane."_ _

__Odin narrowed his eye at Thor and shook his head._ _

__"You have grown much these last few years, Thor, but your heart still follows a risky, reckless path that I fear with cause you pain at its end."_ _

__Thor smiled at his father's words. "Risk can be unavoidable at times, Father, but sometimes the reward is worth it."_ _

__A look crossed his father's face too quickly for Thor to decipher it as he repeated Jane's words. He reached out and laid a large hand on Thor's shoulder. Its weight matched the one on his father's face now._ _

__"I only want to see you happy, Thor."_ _

__Before Thor could answer, Odin moved back. "Tell your mother I will see her tonight, and that at the feast Jane Foster will be seated at my left."_ _

__At those words, Odin departed from the garden and Thor looked to where Jane and his mother had walked off to._ _

__His father's left. A place saved for the All-Father's most honoured guests, even if they were not always the most welcome. Feeling worlds lighter than he had this morning, Thor went to see if he could charm his mother to tell less embarrassing stories about his childhood._ _


	4. 0.4

_.an honoured guest_

Fulla stood behind her knotting and twisting her hair into long spirals that turned into each other, building a net of braids down her back. Jane held her fingers together tightly on her lap. She was getting used to being attended to by the young woman by now, and Fulla was very good at anticipating when Jane wished for her help and when she wanted to be alone. However this wasn't like making sure she looked presentable for the palace's opulent halls. This was a royal feast, technically in her honour. 

Looking presentable for this took a whole new meaning. 

The pale gold silk (or more to the point: silk-like material of Asgard) of her dress was light and soft against her skin. It sloped in a delicate vee across her collarbones and was mirrored at her back. The material was then intricately detailed with gold thread that covered the whole dress like vines as rest of the pattern flowed all the way down the hem. It was cinched at her waist with a thick bronze belt engraved with branches. She only wore one piece of jewellery: Thor's gifted necklace that hung between her breasts and dipped so low it that it was mostly covered by the dress where no one could really see anything but its chain. She reached for it. The crystal that hung on its end was warm in her hands. Its warm and rounded edges steadied her.

Fulla kept weaving small braids into Jane's hair in the shape of a crown.

Jane had had dolls when she was younger. She remembered dressing them and pulling at their hair. She used to make them fly and kiss and go into space. She would make up stories for them in her head. 

Her fingernails bit into the skin of her palm. 

She felt like apologising to her dolls. 

Fulla grabbed a lock of her hair, and weaved it into the others. "My lady, does the hair not please you?"

Jane's gaze snapped up, "Oh, sorry, no, I love it." She blinked and looked at the mirror. Grinning she added, "Really, I love it. I don't know how you do half of the things you've managed with my wardrobe since I got here."

Behind her, Fulla's cheeks pinked. "You have lovely hair, my lady." Her hands moved, "And the dress is to your liking?"

"The dress is to most fashion designers liking." 

Fulla's face worked like it did when Jane said something that she didn't understand. 

"What I mean is, that on Earth— Midgard, it would be a dress that many would covet. It's beautiful."

"The queen wished for you to have the best."

Jane winked. "She’s very kind."

Fulla leaned forward to grab a new strand of golden beads to weave into Jane's hair. The curve of her lips turned sly. "She wished for you to have a dress fit for a princess."

It was Jane's turn to blush. 

Before Jane could answer though, the door opened. 

"I've come to see if you required any assistance," Sif's voice came from the other side of the room.

"Sif," Jane turned from the mirror. Sif was also wearing a dress; long, slim, and bone-white that draped over her shoulders and left her arms bare. It made Jane think of a streamlined Grecian gown except with no soft folds or draping material, but a sharp redefinition. A thick gold necklace circled her neck and a chest piece accented her dress, its metal covering the bare skin of her chest like a vest, but somehow more regal.

It should have looked delicate. Sif wore it like armour. 

And despite the loveliness her own dress there was something _more_ about Sif that Jane could not help but notice. Maybe it was how she made it all look as effortless as she made her every day armour and leathers look. Maybe it was because she _was_ goddess.

"You look amazing," Jane said. 

Sif smiled. She walked up to Jane. Fulla took a step back as if she had never been at Jane's side and let Sif take her place. 

"Thank you, Jane. So do you," Sif said, her fingers moving through Jane's hair. "Here, let me finish this. I believe I remember how to do this from my younger days."

Jane sighed, turning back to the mirror, "Thanks." She glanced over her shoulder, "I think this is the first time I've seen you in a dress."

Sif chuckled softly. "It might very well be the last too, for a while at any rate. I am known for wearing my armour more often than not. It is only for her majesty's feasts I try and dress in line with the more courtly fashions."

"I think you make your armour look pretty great. Not in a 'you're trying' way. It looks good. Like armour, but also, you know," Jane fumbled, feeling her blush creep up her cheeks. "I mean, you wear it well and you look good in it." She dropped her head onto her fist. "Please stop me."

Sif's hands smoothed over Jane's shoulders. "I understand your meaning." Her smile flashed in the mirror above Jane's head. "Your nerves are unfounded, Jane. You look wonderful and all be well."

"I've never done anything like this before." Jane ran a fingers over the shimmering thread that wound over the dress. "I've never worn something like this before and that’s including all the borrowed dresses I’ve worn since I arrived."

Sif stepped back, hands finishing their job in Jane's hair, and held out one to her. Jane took it, pulling herself up. The dress fanned around her. Sif reached for the thin gold bands on the vanity. 

"I know." Sif said, facing Jane. She began pinning the bands across Jane's hairline. "I remember my first feast when I came of age and could attend the feasts. I felt awkward for the dress was not one I felt comfortable in, the material new and stiff, but the nerves passed quickly and were gone completely by the time Thor upended a table trying to show off his sword skills."

"I can imagine," Jane said with a smile. 

Sif smiled back, "But that was not the feast in which my nerves where the worst."

"It wasn't?"

Sif grinned, "Indeed not. The worst was the when I was officially named and honoured as a Shield Maiden of Asgard, and was titled Goddess of War. I had no appetite and I had to entered alone the hall alone… It is harder when it's something that matters greatly to you." 

Jane thought of Thor, waiting. Of what this feast meant in terms of them, of her being a mortal and his… girlfriend suddenly seemed too simple — too much of an Earth term — and inaccurate. He had said he was courting her and he was presenting her, officially, to Asgard with this feast. Jane didn't know much about courtly setting but all she could think about were words like “betrothed” which they were most definitely _not_ and… “intended” which she was not sure she felt incredibly comfortable in owning. She swallowed Sif as settled the band across the top off her forehead, a makeshift circlet highlighted by the braids in her hair. 

Jane let out a breath. Somewhere it could be mistaken as crown.

"Much harder." 

Sif's smile only softened, "I believe you are ready." She tilted her head, eyes assessing, and nodded.

"Here's hoping," said Jane, licking her lips. 

Sif moved to Jane's side and held out her arm. Jane looked at it and back up, blinking. Sif eyed her arm pointedly, lips slating in a smirk that could only be called conspiratorial. 

"But unlike myself that you will not enter completely alone, Lady Jane Foster of Midgard. You will be escorted by myself, Sif Krigdottier, Shield-Maiden of Asgard. I will walk you to the feast hall, where Thor waits. A lady is always escorted to feasts in her honour."

Laughing, Jane took Sif's arm and together they walked out of the room. Fulla mere steps behind them. "So, did you draw the short straw?" Jane teased, needing to the fill the thick silence that covered the halls. 

"I rightfully beat out the others for the privilege of escorting you to the banquet hall." Sif scoffed.

"Then I'm flattered and honoured."

They reached the entrance to the banquet hall much faster than Jane expected, more people filling the halls as they got closer. She swallowed thickly. Sif leaned down to whisper in her ear. 

"The sweet wine they will pour in the cup closest to you once you sit, you'll want to drink the first cup fast. It is great for calming nerves. I'd avoid the mead." 

Jane stifled a snort and whispered, "Thanks."

"My pleasure, Lady Jane," Sif voice rose signalling to Jane they were at the banquet hall doors. 

Thor wasn't there. Jane's head snapped to Sif. 

"Wait, where's Thor?"

Sif smiled, gently nudging Jane forward. "He awaits you, but first we must enter. They'll announce me and then you will be announced as guest of honour." Sif squeezed Jane's hand let go of her. "I will be just inside, Jane. As will Thor." _You won't be alone_ , remained unsaid but Jane heard the words and was grateful for them. At that Sif nodded to the two guards at the doors. They opened, letting the loud sounds and rich smells of the feast inside filter out. It was mostly people's voices Jane heard, but just under them there was music. It drifted out and curled itself in Jane's ear. Drums, Jane heard first. Soft, heavy drums and light flutes. 

Jane blinked and suddenly the drums were gone. The flutes remained and there was the sound of harps mixed in. She was glad, the drums felt too much like her heart beating hard in her chest.

Sif's name was announced, clear and loud, and while the sounds inside the room did not stop they dropped an octave. Just as Sif crossed the threshold she looked back and nodded to Jane. 

Jane nodded back. Smoothed her hands down her thighs, felt the detailing of her dress raised against her palms and fought not to fist her hands in the material. She worried the inside of her cheek and waited until Sif's back was out of sight before stepping forward. She noticed Fulla slip ahead, unnoticed by others, and whisper in someone's ear. 

Jane stepped forward. 

Her name was called out just as Sif had said it minutes before.

"The Lady Jane Foster, Scholar of Midgard."

The room quieted, though not completely. The sounds of the room felt thicker, the pulse of the drums hummed in her veins, and the people's voices lowered to whispers. Jane's attention narrowed to walking across the entrance and down the small steps. Around her everything felt almost fuzzy. She saw Sif standing at one side, waiting as promised. Jane almost moved towards her when she caught sight of red. 

His cape followed him like a colourful shadow, and his face was as bright as the sun. 

Thor grinned at her, reaching her and extending his hand. Around him the room blurred. She could hear the drums again. They felt like they came from inside her head.

She took a step and then took his hand. It was warm and familiar. 

A breath she did not know she had been holding whooshed out and everything sharpened into focus. The drums stopped. 

Thor curled his fingers around hers and kissed her hand right there and then. Like always Jane had the urge to laugh, blush rising in her cheeks. The music changed slightly, the drums vanished, and she felt giddy. 

At their first steps, the room exploded into sound again as Thor lead her forward to his father's left side, never letting go of her hand. Jane was only slightly aware of Sif moving behind them. When they reached their chairs, he pulled hers out, head bending close to hers. 

"You shine like a star, Jane," his voice drifted across the skin behind her ear, warm, and raising goosebumps on her skin.

Sif passed Jane with a wink and took her seat at Frigga's other side. 

Odin stood and welcomed her, officially, a lot more amiable than she had expected, even toasting her. At the toast, Jane took Sif's advice to heart and took a long pull of the sweet wine. There was a small round of clinking glasses and cheers but as the toast died down the room went back to its previous state. Loud conversations spanned areas of the large table. Wine and food was served and everyone drank freely. Jane quickly learned that manners went a little bit (a lot) out of the window as more food and more drinks were consumed. At least now she definitely knew he hadn't meant to be deliberately rude back in Puente Antiguo with the coffee mug because she's sure about twenty cups had been shattered in celebration already. 

Next to her, Thor ate and explained the meal with gusto. Jane ate slower, mostly watching the scene around her. Thor would lean into her side and point out people, share stories. Across the table Sif would lean forward and do the same. Volstagg’s stories were loud enough that half the hall could hear. 

It didn’t even take long before he had one of his kids on his lap and every once in a while one of the younger ones would wave and grin shyly at Jane. She waved back. They were darling kids who had gifted her one of their old mechanical balls when she expressed an interest it it. Jane was almost sure she had more Asgardian toys in her room than actual kids in Asgard had.

To her right Odin sat silent and watchful, only adding a few words in when someone called out to the All-Father, complementing. Jane could hear him speak in low tones with Frigga, but the words were lost in the other much louder occupants of the room. He and Frigga ate with less fervour than everyone else, with more practiced bites and purposeful drinks from their glasses. 

The queen joined in more conversations, never seeming to raise her voice, but nonetheless it floated across the room and Jane had no doubt that when she spoke (just as when Odin spoke) her voice could be heard in the farthest corner, in the darkest shadow, of the room.

Jane sipped her wine slowly, enjoying the ambience and rather glad that her participation was rarely called forth by anyone besides those she already knew. A few guests shouted questions across the table, some only slightly insulting about Earth and the state of the realm, and Jane would answer back as honestly as she could. She had a feeling her voice got lost in the sounds of the feast but nobody seemed to pay it any mind. 

She didn't feel uncomfortable, laughing and smiling with Thor, holding his hand under the table, but the tension that rested between her shoulders was not completely gone. Asgard was a heady place. It filled her senses, made her feel completely alien. And there was very obvious joke there that Jane did not feel up to making.

The wine and the food was rich, like all the food had been since her arrival, but the servings were even larger and the setting extremely opulent. The centrepieces were large and filled with flowers whose smells seemed to compliment the food. 

When she pointed out one she liked, the curious petals intriguing her, Thor stood without a thought and reached over to plucked it from where it stood, presenting it to her. She took it with a laugh, cheeks burning, and took a quick sniff of its rich scent. She twirled it in her hands, not wanting to risk putting it down and losing it -- it was the first flower Thor had given her --- when Thor plucked it from her hands and tucked it into her hair, probably messing up her hairstyle. She didn't care. 

Thor kissed her fingers afterwards.

When she opened her mouth to tell him he was being ridiculous, there was suddenly a loud scrape of a chair. Everyone looked to the head of the table, the sound of the room slightly dropping. Odin stood. He nodded to the room and waved his hand in the air. The music grew louder, the room went back to the being the way it had been. 

Jane’s eyes followed his cape as he moved from the hall. She touched the flower petal that skimmed her forehead, swallowing. It suddenly felt much heavier than before.

When she looked back to the table, she caught the queen's eyes, blushing when Frigga smiled at her. 

Frigga reached across the now empty seat, her wrist turning, offering her hand. Frigga's fingers brushed the soft skin of Jane's wrist. 

"This is an old song, one for dancing. You should ask Thor to dance," she smiled. 

Jane bit her lips, "Dance?" Her eyes drifted around the hall where no one was dancing.

Sif leaned in, "Be warned, Thor's a horrible dancer. That was always better left to—" she paused, swallowing thickly, and even though she change the direction of the sentence quickly Jane heard Loki's name in the pause. "Fandral is the best dancer, though he will talk your ear off, so your best choice might be Volstagg." Her voice carried, a deliberate action that effectively brought forth the attention of those discussed. 

Jane chuckled, matching Sif's volume. "What about Hogun?"

A sharp smile appeared on Sif's face. "Hogun is quick on the battlefield but as clumsy as Thor outside it."

There were sounds of dismay from heard clearly from Thor and while Hogun did not raise his voice at all, Jane snuck a glance at him. He looked on in dramatic betrayal. Or that's what she assumed the slight tilt of his eyebrows meant.

This time Jane laughed louder than she meant to, but happily, feeling as if she was back in the lab teasing Tony about his music habits with Darcy and Bruce. 

"What about you?"

Sif sniffed, her hawk wing brows rising smugly, "I, of course, am the best of them all."

"Lies!"

"Slander!"

"Do not believe a word, Lady Jane!"

Thor, Fandral and Volstagg all exclaimed at once.

Sif pushed from the table, eyeing them, "Would you challenge me?"

Fandral jumped up, "Accepted!"

"Then the only course of action is for Jane to decide which of us is the better dancer!"

Jane laughed even harder and then found herself gaping and blinking as Sif held out her hand to her. 

"Wait, what-- Now?"

Sif curtsied and extended her hand. "Jane Foster, would you do —"

She was cut off by another hand appearing before Jane. Thor sent an annoyed look at Sif, who only smirked, before bowing to Jane. 

"Jane, now in fear of repeating Sif's words, may I ask for the honour of this dance?" 

Jane did not how her feelings could shift so quickly, but in the second that it took for Thor to ask the very same question that Sif had she went from charmed and flattered to flushed and nervous, her pulse racing. Her hand went into Thor's without a thought. Standing from her chair, she took a step toward Thor, her eyes not leaving his. 

He clearly knew the room by heart because he lead them to the dance area without looking away from her and shifted their bodies into place. 

Jane chewed on the inside of her cheek. Her throat felt dry.

Thor pulled her close and started leading her in a simple dance. He whispered certain steps to her as the moved. 

After one spin, Jane licked her lips, the edges curling. "Sif was lying about you being a bad dancer." Thor grinned, spinning her out again.

Around them a few more people had joined the floor — Volstagg was spinning his wife around, Fandral one of the many other guests — but Jane was all too aware they had been the first couple. She didn't know if it meant something — she really should start learning about their cultural practices instead of just their scientific ones — but it felt important nonetheless.

Thor's hand pressed solidly at her side, eyes bright, "Nay, I say the steps out loud for myself as well."

Her laughter bubbled out. His joined in a second later and pulled her closer, lips skimming her temple.

They danced a few more songs together before Volstagg asked to dance with her. 

"I must prove my mettle to the fair Lady Jane, Thor. Sif's words cut deep."

And after Volstagg, Fandral came, then Sif. Jane danced more in the next twenty minutes than she had in the last few years. (DDR games with Darcy during late nights in New Mexico not included.)

 

 

 _.light_

He watched as Jane danced with his friends. How she laughed with Volstagg and Fandral, and grinned when Hogun asked her for his sole dance of the evening. Thor felt for his friend. Cut off from Vanaheim as he was, Thor was sure he must miss his family greatly. It was not in Vanaheim custom to dance with anyone but your partner or spouse unless courting or for visiting royalty, so that he honored Jane with his dance meant a lot not only to Thor but spoke greatly of Hogun’s affections towards Jane. 

Jane’s voice caught his attention. He turned and watched how she and Sif smiled and spun together in one of the faster dances. She glowed in Asgard's light. 

He couldn't help wonder how she would have gotten along with Loki, but pushed the thought quickly away, still uncomfortable in thinking of Loki in close proximity to Jane. 

Looking towards the far pillars his father had walked away to, Thor wanted to follow and pull him back if only to show him how Jane fit. But he feared his father would not see the situation as he did. Sighing, Thor drank from his cup, noticing it was near empty. He thought of the small eatery on Midgard Jane had taken him to. How her eyes had flashed when he threw the cup down and smiled. There had already been a more than few smashed cups of mead in the hall from others, but he did not think Jane had noticed them as she dance and laughed and drank the honey wine she favoured. It was not practice to smash their cups on Midgard but he wondered if he could get Jane to do so here. 

The idea made him chuckle. He should take her to one of the taverns in the city.

"And what brings such happiness to you eyes, my son?"

His mother slipped to his side, hand touching the edge of elbow. 

"Mother, I must thank you for this feast. You have outdone yourself," he said, smiling at her.

"I am glad you are enjoying yourself. It is the first time I have seen you truly smile at a feast in some time, but I am not presumptuous to think it only because you appreciate my efforts in planning." Frigga grinned, gaze darting towards the dance floor where Jane and Sif's dresses swirled around each other.

Jane was grinning at something Sif said and they ducked under the arms of some other dancers as was required. The flower he plucked from one of the centrepieces hung low by her ear, the circlet around her forehead caught the light from the hall. He imagined it as a crown, his stomach tightening, and pushed the thought away for later as well. 

For now it was enough that Jane was with him.

"She looks happy‑‑ she shines."

"She does," his mother smiled up at him, "and so do you, my son." She reached up and kissed his cheek.

 

 

_.shadows in the light_

The dancing didn't wind down, but Jane did. She and Sif moved across the room, Jane's eyes immediately landing on Thor who was across the room laughing and talking with Fandral and some others. Sif's arm around her waist kept Jane steady as they walked. Asgard's wine might taste like honey and fruits, and she might have only had three cups, but Jane was feeling like she drank more than her share. Asgard shimmered like a golden dream around her. 

She felt full of its light. 

It was then she heard it. It was like a knife cutting through the thin skin of your thumb when you cooked and the delight you took in making the meal grew slightly rotten. 

"I'd thought Thor had moved beyond such whims. A mortal, by Idunn's sake."

"Might do with her station on Midgard, after the news of what was wrought by Loki on the realm this could be the All-Father's way if of securing a peace between realms."

For a second Jane thought only she had heard it. Imagined it. Wine driving forward some insecurities she still had.

When Sif's arm tightened around her and she knew she hadn't.

"Nay, I heard from those who work in the palace that she is nothing but a lowly scholar and attempts to rebuild the Bifrost herself. A mortal!"

The laughter that followed made Jane feel small and cold. It was as if the air had been sucked out of her lungs. Asgard no longer shimmered. Heavy shadows covered the hall. Her head ached. Her heart as well.

Far across the room Thor had not heard a word. 

She was glad about that, even if she felt as if she was being pulled underwater, watching him across the gilded hall as in a dream, unable to catch her breath, unable to move towards him.

Alone, in golden shadows.

Her eyes burned. Her throat felt tight. 

Suddenly she was jerked none too gently to the side, a small sound of surprise slipping from her, and she remembered: 

Sif was still with her. Sif who pulled her through the crowd quickly and took one turn at some pillars— Air! Sweeter than anything on Earth.

Jane took a deep breath.

Her chest felt hot. Her eyes still burned, but the cool night air clashed heavily with the warm state of the feast hall. It washed over her like ice water over a burning wound.

She could feel Sif behind her. Neither said a word. Jane curled her hands on smooth lip of the balcony, breathed, and looked over her shoulder.

Fire burned in Sif's eyes. The chest piece looked even more like armour now. Her eyes darted towards the curtains and Jane reached out, grabbing Sif's wrist, before the other woman could stalk back into the hall. 

"No, don't," said Jane. 

Sif's burning eyes flashed to her. Jane almost took a step back. 

"Amora, that snake! You should want her strung up for speaking of you—of Thor!—in such terms!" Sif voice came sharp and harsh. She appeared to turn back to the hall. 

Jane tugged again, pulling her back. "Sif, please, don't."

"Are you not angry!”

"Of course I am!" Jane shouted back. Sif took a step back. Jane sighed; she hated to yell. Her chest hurt and she wanted to push back in and do something except she felt she couldn’t do anything. She was guest, she was alone, she was mortal. She heard the words in a mix of Odin’s and the voice of whoever had spoken inside. They twisted together, clawed at her. She felt she was back in grad school.

 _guest, alone, mortal, wishful thinker, unrealistic, absurd_ \--

No. She couldn’t let their words get to her, because maybe she was all those things, she had shown them, hasn’t she? She _would_ show them.

"Of course I am, but..." She shook herself and took a deep breath, letting go of Sif's wrist to turn to the balcony. Her palms pressed tightly into the curved edge. "Going back in there and yelling at them, making you or Thor yell at them, isn't going to help matters. Not for me. God, it’s like defending my Ph.D all over again." She glanced over to Sif who growled lightly.

“Jane, she should not be allowed to say such things.”

Jane had to smile.

"Thank you for that, I agree, but what would you have done?"

The sharp arches of Sif brow's clicked together. "I would have confronted her, challenged her to repeat their words, and made them apologise. Forcibly."

"And I'm really grateful for that, but after that I would still be the mortal that needed protection against petty, if cruel, words." Sif stared hard at Jane; an understanding passed between them.

"And you would have looked weak," sighed Sif, moving to Jane's side. _It would have made Thor look weak by choosing you_. The words hung heavy between them. Jane was still new all this court stuff, but she suddenly felt like she had had a crash course. 

Sif continued, "You are anything but, Jane, for I have seen you rush into a battleground with no regard for yourself but worry for another. You travelled across worlds in search for answers. You make Thor smile and settle the reckless pull in him, and I would have felt honoured to strike down those who hurt you." Sif finished, her voice softer, but the look in her eyes as fierce as before as she glanced back at the hall, her teeth bared, "And I cannot believe there are such dim-witted fools in our presence tonight."

Smiling at the sharp, protective look in Sif face, Jane was glad that Sif had been next to her, but, "Is it really that surprising?" 

Sif looked back to her, questioning. 

Jane sighed. "What they said… Is it really that surprising? I mean, I am human, a pretty ordinary one at that, and you are all practically immortal. The odds are against me by the ageing factor alone. And, God, the bridge," turning to where the Bifrost lead out of Asgard, Jane folded her arms on the balcony. If she squinted she could make out the crystal path. The charm from her necklace seemed to pulse just above her breasts. She lifted on hand to touch it.

"Sometimes I feel I'm just at the edge of understanding it, the way it travels, _how_ it travels alongside the branches but not quite through them, and then it's gone. I wake up and it's gone," her voice dropped to a whisper so low it was lost in the night. 

She almost jumped when Sif's hand closed over her shoulder. "You may be mortal, but you are not ordinary, Jane. And the Bifrost may be a mystery, but a part of it opened to you. You opened it, even in the smallest way and travelled in a way no other has managed. I have no gift of foresight or even much aptitude in magic, but that is no small feat. And they are fools to speak of you in such a way. Thor would have struck them down."

Jane grinned. "Then let's be grateful you're more level-headed."

"Indeed." Sif smiled back. 

They stood out on the balcony for a few more minutes when they heard soft footsteps and Fulla appeared, bowing. 

"Lady Sif, Lady Jane, his majesty the prince seeks your presence. Should I direct him?" Fulla asked and that's when Jane realised that Fulla had been probably acting guard to her and Sif from the minute Sif had guided her outside. She had probably heard everything too. Jane swallowed.

Sif straightened, looking at Jane, "I shall take my leave. Let the prince know the Lady Jane awaits him."

Fulla bowed and went back in. Jane lifted one brow at Sif. "What was that?"

The tilt of Sif's head did not look innocent at all, no matter how much she tried to make the look fit. 

"Take some more air, Jane. The feast hall is stuffy and crowded. The night is cool and the sky is clear. Look at your stars, be well, and have Thor keep you warm should you get cold." Sif reached out for a quick hug that left Jane surprised, and crossed the threshold to Jane's surprised laughter. 

Jane turned back towards Asgard, eyes trailing the tall towers that covered the realm. In the night they still gleamed under the darkening cosmos and Asgard's singular moon, Maní, she recalled, but as they stood shadowed it was easy to think of New York and its skyscrapers. Jane didn't miss the city, but she missed Darcy and others. Her eyes trailed back down to where the Bifrost stood. She hoped she didn't have to miss them for long.

She _would_ open the Bridge again, she would fix the pathways, and she would do it because she knew she could. She just had to remember that. They were wrong about her back in Culver, and they’d be wrong about her here. Her hands curled tight on the balcony.

Just then, Thor's arms circled her waist as she sighed. He had really good timing. Mostly. His chin brushed the top of her head and she pressed her cheek against the metal that covered his bicep.

"I passed Sif. She says that you've declared her the winner of the challenge," he said, quietly, mouth against her hair. "She goes to share the news of her victory with the others."

Confused for a second, Jane pursed her lips then smiled. Turning her head up she made a show of rolling her eyes. 

"Sif is sore loser. I said no such thing." She turned in his arms, facing him.

Thor bent. The shoes of her outfit made the distance between their foreheads shorter for once. She always felt bad for his neck, but he never seemed to register the discomfort. 

"So, was it I, the winner?" He shifted closer.

Her arms went up to his shoulders. "Sorry, Volstagg," she shrugged, lips curving to one side. 

His head fell back dramatically, voice loud enough to be heard across the large balcony and probably a little inside. "And so the Thunderer has been slain by the fair Lady Jane of Midgard. The Nine have a new champion!" 

Reaching up she grabbed the sides of his face and pulled him back down to her level, shaking in silent laughter. In the soft darkness he was light, the shadows seemed to bend around him, letting him shine. Her cheeks hurt from the grin she was trying to control. Around him everything felt better, right. Whatever differences they had seemed to disappear. 

"You're shameless." She brought his mouth to hers. Other words stuck in her throat, but she tried to fold them into her kiss.

Against her mouth, Thor sighed, lips sliding across hers. "For your smiles I would do worse."

Her heart fluttered probably more than was healthy. "Let's hang out here for a bit." She carded her hands through his hair. Her fingers caught some of his braids. 

He nodded, one hand flat against her back, the other at the nape of her neck. "Let me win your favour with a dance under the stars."

"Mmmhmm, sounds good," Jane mumbled as his tongue licked at her lips and she opened her mouth against his even as he led her into a slow swaying dance and slower kiss. She was never big on parties anyway. Not much later, when Thor pressed her against the door of her rooms, his hands already shifting under the layers of her skirt, high on her thighs, Jane really didn’t mind having left the feast early at all.

 

_.root eater_

He could feel the heat rising around him. 

It wasn’t his own. Surprised, he looked up and then smirked. The drums sounded around him, he could hear that damn wolf howl and howl and howl and laughed. The wolf’s sister snake hissed as she chased her tail.

Maybe Eternal wasn’t the right word for the realm anymore, he thought.

Breathing out, he added his own flames to the fire, watching it rise through the leaves, before continuing his meal. The bark gave away under his teeth.


	5. 0.5

_.sol and maní_

Thor woke slowly. Shifting slightly, he only became aware that Jane was using his arm as pillow when he heard her murmur something and turn over to face him. Her breath fanned across his chest, her leg slid over one thigh. Sprawled over him she seemed to glow in the early morning light. He ran a gentle hand over her back and smiled as she cuddled in. The arm around his waist curled tighter for a second as she mumbled sleep filled words before she settled again. 

Last night he had not meant to end the evening in Jane’s bed when he walked her to her quarters after their dance under the stars, but at her door their kiss--

This time there had been no texts or persons around to distract them from each other. It might not have been the most proper courting procedure, something he did feel some guilt over, but he remembered Jane’s smile as they had rolled on the bed. The way she gripped his shoulders and slid her hands over sides, clutching at him as tightly as he held her. How she had cupped his face and held him close, her thighs curling over his hips, gasping his name. He hadn’t cared about cared about anything else but Jane and her feelings and his own for her. 

He loved her.

She was everything that his heart called out for. 

He wished to wake every morning for the rest of his life like this. 

The instant the thought ended the abrupt and harsh realization that it was an impossible wish filled his heart, dimming his delight. Jane, as if part of her sensed his sudden change of mood stirred, whispered his name soft and sleepy. Her lips brushed his chest, near his heart. He could not help his smile and stroked a hand over her back again. 

An idea struck then and carefully he disentangled himself for her hold. He leaned down and kissed her brow, telling her he’d be back soon when she blinked blearily up at him.

“Coffee…” she said, curling up around the pillow he had just moved from. Thor chuckled softly. 

“I’ll see what I can do.” Asgard had no coffee, but he was sure the kitchens could come up with something close enough. 

 

_.the yew-tree shakes_

She'd never experienced an earthquake before so it took her a second to understand what was happening. At first the shaking felt as part of her dream, her head filled with the sounds of drums, but as Jane woke and took note of how her bed shook, how the headboard thumped against the wall behind it, it became clear what was happening. 

Under her, Asgard shuddered.

Legs tangling in the sheets, Jane stumbled from the bed. Her feet hit the floor and she almost fell again. The walls appeared to vibrate. The mirror of her vanity wobbled. Snatching the top sheet, she wrapped it around her naked body. 

Jane rushed to the doors. 

Not for one-second did she think Asgard would crumble around her, but remembered lessons and instinct took over. As she reached the doors, the shaking stopped and the doors were flung open. The sight behind them made her heart seize up even as relief flowed through her.

Thor stood in front of her in his full armour. He reached for her immediately. Jane let herself be pulled closed. His face was grim, which she found worrisome, but first thing was first: he was okay. She leaned into him, let the circle of his arms hold her as Asgard appeared to settle around them. 

"Thor! What's going on?" She gripped at the metal curves winging across his chest. "What's happening?"

The sound of Mjölnir dropping to the floor of the room echoed and the hand that had been holding it joined its partner and cupped her face. "Are you well?"

She nodded. "Yeah, yeah, what's going on?"

Thor's face hardened. Something dark flashed in his eyes. Jane's fingers curled tighter on his vest. This was not a look she used to seeing in him. Worry filled her and threatened to overflow. "Thor?"

"It is Muspelheim1."

The word brought images of fire and swords to mind. Giants, Jane remembered, no, wait, she _read_ , (read, not remembered, she needed to remember that), that burned and left smoke in their trail. Her head ached.

 

_.fire_

 

Thor heard the sounds of the horns and knew he had to join the forces, but he couldn’t bring himself to rush away from Jane's side. When he had left her this morning to bring her breakfast, she had mumbled and reached out to him. He should have stayed.

She blinked at his words, her eyes seemed far away, and something passed over her face too quickly, but his stomach tightened in knots at the look in her face. 

Jane's voice stopped him from examining his thoughts and feelings too deeply as she asked, "Are they attacking?" She scrambled to pull on the closest piece of clothing she found, some nightclothes. Thor grabbed her robe from the chaise and handed it to her. She slipped it on even as she reached for her journal and pen.

"Our borders have been breached. The fire jotunn had been seen as close as Vingard…" He trailed off, leading Jane out of the room, determined to keep her safe. She clutched her journal to her chest. "We do not know how they've entered the realm." Down the halls, he walked to Fensalir, his mother's hall, the safest place he could think of that was not by his side.

Jane's hand tighten in his, her bare feet moving quickly to keep pace with him. "Are you going out there?" She asked, but from the tone in her voice it was clear she already knew the answer. 

He nodded. "But first, I must take you to my mother. She will keep you safe."

They did not say much else as they moved through the palace. When they reached his mother's hall, its guards pushed the doors open and let Jane in. Thor did not follow her. It only took Jane a second to notice and she spun, eyes meeting his as they stood on opposite sides of the threshold. Behind her, Thor glimpsed his mother, sword fastened and sheathed at her hip. But Jane stood tiny and barefooted — he should have let her slip some shoes on — and Thor swore that no harm would touch her.

"You will be safe here."

"I know," she said, voice steady, but worry made her eyes bright. "You'll be careful, won't you?"

He took one of her hands and kissed her knuckles. "As always."

She laughed, as she always did, but today the sound felt forced. The curve of her mouth melancholy. "Last time you did this going into a fight you didn't come back." 

It pained him to know that he could not argue her point. Horns sounded behind him once more. This time would be different, he swore this, too.

"This time I shall return."

"You better." She met his gaze, fierce. He nodded, kissed her palm, and moved away. He caught sight of his mother's soft nod as she moved and laid a hand on Jane's shoulder. Jane bit her lips and he knew what she was about to do even before he saw her move. He caught her as she grabbed at him and pulled herself to press her mouth hard against his. It was too reminiscent of their first kiss on Midgard, but Thor saw no bad omen it. If anything it served to steady him. 

When she pulled back and moved back towards his mother, she looked steadier too. “You better,” she repeated. Thor nodded.

“Deal.”

The doors closed as he turned and made his way to the closest balcony, spinning Mjölnir into flight. Sif and the Warriors Three would have already headed to the battle. He would meet them there. 

As he flew, he allowed his thoughts to remain with Jane a second longer. He would not break his promise this time. 

-

The fight was already underway when Thor arrived. His skin prickled.

The Einherjar guards littered the battle ground, fighting fiercely against those who would threaten Asgard's borders and safety. 

Thor landed near one of the lieutenants near the edges, and nodded at the man in silent understanding as the sons of Muspelheim rose from the smoke and ashes they had brought forth. The ground was burning and Thor could almost make out the smoking craters in the ground.

"To me!" He called out, signalling to those closest to him and charged forward. 

The jotunn charged too. Their fire flared brightly.

Thor grinned, his blood humming. The call of battle and the drive to protect Asgard filled him, but it was unlike before. The instinct, born and bred, to fight for Asgard was no longer pushed forward by what he could now admit were selfish notions to prove himself stronger, better, but by one simple fact: 

To safeguard his home and those he cared for. 

Within the swirls of smoking grounds, in the yells and fighting he found his friends quickly and moved towards them just in time to swing at fire-jotunn that was ready to send a lick of flame towards Fandral. 

The fire-jotunn, much like the ice-jotunn, could control their born element for a small distance, away from their realm, and send spheres and streams of fire out to their enemies. They were a dangerous foe, again, much like the ice-jotunn. That they walked Asgard's lands was alarming. 

Charging forward, Thor swung his hammer round, and felt the heat of his opponent's fire against his skin even as his hit connected. His opponent fell back into one of his own brethren who had been preparing an attack. When it looked like they were going to pair up against him, a blade appeared from one of the jotunn's chest. It glowed bright red, as if the steel was still being forged, and as it slid out Thor watched as the two jotunn collapsed to the ground. Sif stood behind them. She pulled her glaive back, a sharp smile on her face. 

"Do not let them get near, they are able to set ablaze both skin, metal, and cloth if they are close enough to touch." 

Thor nodded and as one they moved into a familiar formation.

Their weapons struck, pushed, and felled those would try and get too close.

It was small contingent from Muspelheim, Thor noted absently as he struck forward, Mjölnir crackling with power, but their fire-magic and large bodies did not make for an easy battle. As Sif tossed him her shield to repel a stream of flame, Hogun appeared near them, his mace swinging in wide arches, its spikes glowing like molten metal.

Around them several of Asgard's warriors fought, their swords, staffs, and shields glowing red as fire burned around them. Electricity crackled all around him. Thor heard Volstagg's grunts and Fandral's taunts. The hiss of skin burning when a jotunn got too close to someone followed by the smell of flesh burning. Sif and Hogun sent flurries of short blades towards their foes, driving them back. Other Einherjar followed their example. 

Their effort did not do much as the jotnar would burn the small metal even as they struck skin and Thor thought of archers — Hawkeye with his keen eyesight, who had deadly and purposeful aim even from afar — but they had not called forth. It was custom to keep them to the palace. 

It was that distance they needed now.

Alas. 

The spears and swords were working well enough, he assured himself, striking forward, watching another jotunn fall against Sif's sword. And then another. An Einherjar near her looked on awe. Thor fought off a chuckle. Fandral shouted a compliment at her dancing skills that Sif snapped back at.

He was sure it was a great retort but he missed it, throwing Mjölnir in a wide arch against a jotunn fast approaching him, shattering the jotunn's dark helmet, toppling him and another and another. Thor's lips curled. He heard Volstagg call out for "The Lazy Valkyrie" and huffed a breath, lips curling further.

Blood pounded in his ears. Mjölnir hummed in his grip.

When he hear Fandral shout of triumph and Hogun's curse, he knew they had succeeded. 

Still, the battle was not done.

Behind them the ground and buildings nearby burned and caught fire. He thought he heard a child scream.

To his left, he saw Sif near, her heavy breaths disturbing the tendrils of smoke in the air. Her sword slashed through her opponents with no mercy. Her face was covered in earth and soot.

"Sif," he called out, "we must end this!" He began spinning Mjölnir in his hands. Sif's eyes grew wide and then she grabbed hold of the Einherjar closest to her and rushed away. 

"Fall back!" She yelled.

Most followed her, others blinked in surprise as they struck down their opponents and then they moved back as well when their eyes fell on him. 

The hammer's power began filling the air making it thick and smelling vaguely of burnt ozone. The wind picked up, swirling the smoke in the air and blowing out the small fires on the ground. Thor was vaguely aware of Volstagg's voice calling for him and then—

By the Nine! Pain licked down his arm, fire following it. The metal of Járngreipr felt melted and branded into his skin, his flesh was burning— 

The pain was almost too much—

 _Last time you did this going into a fight you didn't come back_.

Instinct took over and the pain in his arm became a dull thud in the back of his mind.

Thor twisted, Mjölnir still spinning in his grip as he swung, smashing away the jotunn that had grabbed hold of him — the jotunn fell dead to the ground, his own face burnt by the hammer's power. Járngreipr glowed bright red against Thor's skin, still burning from the jotunn's touch — before he lifted Mjölnir to the skies and called lightning and thunder down. 

His power flashed through him and erupted forth from his hand wrapped tightly on Mjölnir and struck all the remaining jotunn down in a pulsating wave. Their flaming flesh snuffed out before they even hit the ground. 

The smell of burnt flesh filled his nose and the whole of the Vingard. 

That he could not tell the smell of his own flesh or the jotunn's apart twisted some deep part of his soul.

 

_.smoke_

 

She rushed across the corridors. 

Frigga had tried to keep her in her hall until all had calmed down and she had almost succeeded. After they were told the fight was done Odin had briefly stepped in and spoken to his wife, assuring her of Thor's victory in the field, but the words _fire, burns, injured_ were exchanged and Jane's feet rushed quickly across the floor and out of the hall.

In her tours of the palace she'd been shown the healing rooms a few times — they were near the training arena and Sif had introduced her to the Asgardian version of a steam room adjacent to them — but had not thought that she would have remembered the twists and turns of the golden halls if she ever needed to find them on her own. Still her feet and memory were guiding her well enough. It did not hurt that Fulla, who had come into Frigga’s room with a quick change of clothes -- and shoes -- for Jane once the battle was declared done, was only steps behind her making sure she got to her destination. 

The smell of smoke, burnt meat, no, no, burnt _flesh_ and metal shocked her as she reached the halls by the healing rooms. 

It took her back to that day in New Mexico where she first saw the deadly power of Asgard's magic. Her stomach turned at the smells and memories, but she pushed forward. 

Like every other room in the palace, the healer’s wing was huge. And like in every other room in palace she felt small and lost for a second. Injured warriors were being tended to in every corner. Pieces of burnt armour clattered to the floor as they were pulled away from the bodies they had been on. She could hear hisses and grunts of pain. The sickeningly sweet scent of smoke hung in the air. The feel of magic did, too.

Her head ached, it had felt like drums the whole morning. She closed her hand over the charm of her necklace and searched the area. Her eyes flitted over golden armour and the robes of the healers.

Thor was here. Hurt. Burnt. A memory of his bloodied face bloomed in Jane's head. 

She pressed her other hand to her clenching stomach. 

"Thor," she said, low and choked. Her eyes caught sight of a healer pulling away a piece of half melted metal from an arm. The skin looked raw. She remembered why she choose to follow the astrophysics program in college instead of the medical one. Jane looked away. 

"Thor," she repeated. No one seemed to hear her. She could barely hear herself.

Taking a breath, she moved further into the room. 

A hand touched her shoulder. 

Jane spun, the shape of Thor's name on her lips. 

It was Hogun. 

His mouth was a thin, upturned line. His eyes were dark and heavy. The smell of smoke clung to him, soot coloured one cheek.

"Lady Jane."

"Hogun," she whispered. 

"You should not be here," he said in his stern way, but his voice was soft.

Jane shook her head, “No… I _have_ to be here.” Hogun’s gaze almost became searching. “I have to know…"

He met her eyes and a beat passed. A healer called for a stone. Hogun nodded. "Come."

Jane sighed, thankful, and followed him silently. He took her around the main healing area to a corner in the back, closed off and private. Private room, she guessed, for Thor. Their prince. They would take care of him but she couldn't help wanting to be near him. He hadn't come back before.

Volstagg sat near the room. A healer stood next to him, crushing a stone into a cream like substance and rubbing it onto his skin. The angry looking burn faded gradually as she passed. He nodded and smiled at her, huffing something about jotunns and his arms and how it would take more to fell him. Part of her relaxed. Volstagg's smile was reassuring, the warmth in it centering her. She smiled back and pushed forward to the room Hogun was leading her to. 

Inside the room, Thor sat. Across him sat Sif, Fandral standing at her side.

They all turned to her as she entered. 

"Jane!" Thor exclaimed, standing, only to be pushed back to his seat by Eir, who was treating him. 

Relief washed over her like cool water, and her breath rushed out. Still, she could see how Thor's arm was blistering red and could read the worry in Sif's eyes. Both their faces and Fandral's were flushed and smudged by soot and earth as well. 

Before Jane even realised she had moved she was at Thor's side. One hand brushed against his cheek. The fact he turned his face to her touch made her throat thick. His mouth brushed her palm. His lips felt warmer than normal. She thought of fire and swallowed.

“I am fine, Jane.”

"What happened?" she asked, eyes flicking from Thor’s face to where Eir was preparing something. Eir answered as she crushed several stones into a small bowl filled with a thick looking paste. It smelled like grass to Jane.

"A fire-jotunn got to close and set his arm coverings ablaze. Their magic worked well enough but the fire magic from the jotunn still ate through much of the metal and their shielding spells. The mixture and the stone dust will help him heal much faster than normal as he won’t be needing to push his own healing abilities." Eir explained, and Jane knew it was for her benefit. It was not the first time Jane had been in Eir’s company, the first time shortly after her arrival, and several times since then. After Heimdall, Eir was one of the few of people on Asgard always happy to answer Jane’s many questions. 

Jane nodded, “Good, that’s good then.” She really needed to start expanding her studies past the Bifrost. Her understanding of Asgard’s general use of magic (science, but more. It was more. It was their innate energy manifested in different ways, taught in a different way, but it fueled the entire realm. What they built with could span worlds, but it was innate, she was learning. And maybe she could never--) was still more basic than she wanted. The theory she understood the application escaped her fingertips -- (burning leaves against her fingers) -- just out of her reach, too hot to touch, for now.

"I had luck on my side,” added Thor, snapping her attention back. 

Across from them Sif rolled her eyes. "You were careless. You should not have kept your back to them."

"I did not believe there were any left behind me," Thor shot back.

"A clear oversight," Sif snapped.

"But all in all, a successful endeavour," Fandral put it, cheekily, looking to diffuse the argument before it started. 

Well, if they were still arguing it couldn't be too bad, Jane tried to reassure herself. She didn't even notice she had leaned against his uninjured arm until said arm wrapped around her waist. The relief was nearly overwhelming as she heard him bicker with Sif and Fandral.

Silently, she watched Eir work as she would have another scientist showing her an experiment. The crushed stones were mixed into the paste where the mixture shimmered for a second before Eir began applying to Thor's blistered and burned skin. The stones themselves, Jane already knew had magical healing properties, promoting renewal of skin cells, but did the paste have them as well? And if it was mixed from other elements, like she figured, was it the elements themselves or their specific mixture and the magical manipulation of the healers that allow them work? To heal?

Thor hissed as Eir slathered the paste on his skin.

Jane blinked, turning to him. She kept her hand against his neck, her thumb rubbing absentminded circles on his skin. "Will he be okay?"

Eir smiled, happily ignoring the bickering friends, and covered Thor's arm in the paste. The mixture seeped into his skin but the skin did not heal as quickly as Volstagg's had. "Yes, in time. The jotunn's fire was powerful and concentrated. The skin will need to be treated for a few days yet."

Thor grunted. "Eir likes to worry over me."

Eir rolled her eyes. She reminded Jane of an indulgent aunt. "You have not yet given me reason to do otherwise, my prince." She turned to Jane, holding out the small bowl. "Perhaps he will complain less if you would finish applying the mixture. I have some more patients to look over."

"Yes, of course." Jane nodded, gratefully taking the bowl.

The paste was cool, but Thor's skin was hot, too hot, to the touch and Jane was almost surprised it didn't sizzle as she gently applied the treatment. She could feel Thor's eyes on her. The twist in her stomach loosened but didn't go away. She heard, unable to look away from Thor's blistering skin, as Eir looked over Sif and then Fandral. Mild burns, a similar mixture of crushed healing stone and herbs for both of them. The rustling of cloth and metal sounded and faded.

Under her hands Thor's skin was still too red, raw. 

In New Mexico he had died under her hands.

Last night they had curled up together.

Her eyes misted and she blinked. Tears were no good now. 

Forcing herself keep to the task at hand, she almost jumped as she felt Thor's finger brush against her cheek.

Snapping her gaze to his, she let out a shaky sigh.

His voice was low and thick. "Jane." His thumb rubbed soft circles on her skin. She tried to smile and didn't feel like she succeeded. 

"I was going to be a doctor you know," she said, scooping out some of the paste from the bowl. 

Thor quirked his lips. "Are you not one already?"

Tease, she thought affectionately.

This time the smile she tried for felt more successful. "I meant, a medical doctor. A healer. Maybe I'd be better at this injury thing if I had been." She covered the edge his shoulder, where the skin was redder, and his upper arm and back in the paste and rubbed it gently. His armour was gone — funny she only really realised this now — and he sat shirtless watching her. Even his bracers were gone. His arm coverings grew from them, he’d told her. She trailed her fingers lightly over his collarbones. "I decided to study the stars instead. Space was more interesting. Had more questions I wanted to answer." The paste was almost completely absorbed into his skin. At least it wasn't blistering anymore. 

"I cannot lie, I am glad you chose the path you did."

"You are?"

With his uninjured arm he pulled her closer so she stood in the vee of his legs. His hand found its way to the small of her back and settled comfortably there. This morning he had held her the same way, arm around her, hand pressed at the small of her back, holding her to his chest. This morning suddenly seemed so long ago.

"Verily. Had you chosen this path of a healer you would not have been there to find me and help me when I landed in Midgard." He spoke lightly, but there was a surety in his voice that touched her. 

She finished with his arm, pushed the bowl aside, and smiled down at him. "I don't know, maybe I would have been the doctor to treat you…" 

He chuckled, warmly, eyes drifting to his healing arm. "I should hope not, your Midgardian doctors are quite devious. They impaled me with sharp silver sticks." He frowned at whatever memory overtook him then.

Jane snickered. "You mean needles?" 

Thor grunted in the affirmative and she smiled. Looking over her shoulder, she noticed that Eir and the others were gone from the room. 

"The rest left when Eir finished treating me," he said, careful with his words, as he cupped her face and Jane had a feeling that while she had been too focused on treating his arm he sent them out. She wanted to feel guilty over that but closing her eyes she sighed and couldn't. 

"I am sorry I worried you so, Jane." He nudged their foreheads together, his voice was low, husky. 

Gently, she wrapped her arms around him, "It's not your fault." She opened her eyes and looked into his clear blue ones. Battles and injuries, she wasn't sure why she was so surprised and shaken. Maybe because it was her first one—no, second. The memory of New Mexico flashed again. Manhattan was something she only witnessed the aftermath of. She tried for another smile. "Warrior race, right? It just needs a little getting used to."

His mouth did not bloom into a grin like she expected. It softened and the look his eyes became heavier. "True as that is, I do not like to bring such a sad look into your eyes."

Touching her lips gently to his, she wanted to tell him that the fact he even thought as much meant more to her than anything. She wanted to tell him she loved him. She should have told him this morning.

Sometimes she forgot in what truly different worlds they had grown up in and today had been a lesson. A quick and hard one that she had to take in. Him being on Earth had been so easy. He had slipped so quickly into her life and with relatively few bumps in such few days. 

She had hoped it would have been the same for her here, but each day told her different. 

"I can't say I'm a fan of it either, but you're okay. We'll figure it out, Thor."

He brought her lips back to his. Nothing more than a soft sliding of lips. ( _Deal? Deal._ ) He still smelled a little of smoke but the fresh, green smell of the healing paste clung to him now too.

Jane breathed it in, breathed him in. 

They'd figure it out.

 

_.paths to war_

 

Thor paced. His left arm throbbed with a dull pain even as the worst of the burns were gone. He hated waiting, hated uncertainty, and the day was looking to be filled with much more. The All-Father had called to speak to him privately after he had left the healing room and as much as he had hated leaving Jane, her eyes still dark with worry, he felt the need to speak to his father as well. 

But now that he waited in the confines of his father's study, the thoughts in his head only served to agitate his state more. 

The blood lust of the battle was leaving him slowly but it was not yet gone. Jane had soothed some of it, but an edge of frustration remained.

All he could think of was of how Muspelheim dared break through Asgard's borders. Did the realms now think Asgard so weak and defenceless? With the Bifrost broken not much travelling nor trade had been done between realms and Heimdall's far reaching eyes had warned of fury in Jotunheim, tensions rising in Muspelheim, and Nidavellir, but for them to attack Asgard so boldly? 

It was near a declaration of war.

Uncomfortably, he thought of his almost coronation. He had seen a similar act as such a declaration, but with the distance of time and the recents trails on Midgard he could now see the differences in all three acts. 

The ice-jotunn had slithered in, silent and precise, to steal an artefact they saw as theirs. (Possibly correctly, Thor had to grant as time passed and made certain things clearer to him.) That had been a sly, silent act his brother allowed to pass. An act that would have had extreme repercussions; consequences that still haunted the realm. Then Loki had ripped into Midgard, playing games, calling himself All Powerful All Fearful, King of Ants, opening Midgard to greater dangers than they were prepared for. Then when beaten, he had left without a glance backwards at the chaos he wrought, his borrowed mindless army forgotten and scattered for Midgard to deal with. A fierce fight with an empty goal. 

These fire-jotunn had shattered the safe borders of the realm, somehow hiding themselves from Heimdall as their ice-brethren, but this time Loki had not— _could not_ have been their partner. The sons of Muspelheim had not hidden in the shadows with a plan. No, they had attacked loudly and purposely, threatening the lands of the realm. 

This last act was not born from Loki's hand, Thor considered. It was too direct for his brother. But like with the events of his coronation, the feeling of knowing Asgard's safety had been threatened ate him.

 _The Nine Realms stand at the brink of war_.

It seemed war had finally come.

A war he felt responsible for, born of his actions on that fateful day in Jotunheim. Actions that had also brought him to Jane… and he still could not feel regret for having met her. 

His insides twisted.

"My son," his father called as he walked into the room. Huginn and Muninn perched on each of his shoulders. His father painted a picture of the great All-Father, Lord of the Wild Hunt, as the realms knew him. The picture was interrupted as the ravens flew off their perch, moving to rest on the high arches by window.

Thor pushed his thoughts back, momentarily. "Father."

His father’s gaze rested on his arm, and he lifted a hand to Thor’s healed shoulder. "How does your arm fare?"

"I am well, Father. Eir said it will only require a day or two of a healing poultice. Járngreipr protected me well."

"That is welcome news, my son." Odin nodded, eye lingering heavily on Thor for a second longer before he moved further into the room. Thor followed his father to the large window. Above them Huginn and Muninn squawked.

"Father—"

"Muspelheim has trespassed onto our lands, Thor. They have come wielding fire and brimstone, threatening our borders and our safety. It is only thanks to Heimdall who heard them as they crossed into our lands that we managed to send out the Einherjar in time "

"Yes, Father I am aware—"

"Heimdall heard, my son, not _saw_. He did not see them as they moved towards Asgard or how they arrived. They have surprised us and now our borders must be patrolled and guarded more strongly lest we be taken by surprise once more." His father's hand tightened on his staff and his voice grew harder at each word. Thor felt his back stiffened at the tone.

"Of course, Father—" again Odin did not let him finish.

"It is your mortal's fault!" 

At that Thor's eyes widened and he nearly took a step back in shock.

"Father! Speak carefully! Jane has no fault in the events of the day. The notion itself is preposterous."

"Would you deny she crossed our borders as well? And forcibly so?" Odin spoke harshly, a low growl.

Thor wanted to strike out at his father for these words. The shape of them spoke the truth, but their core was twisted. His father only saw the intrusion upon Asgard. Saw only Jane's mortality usurping the boundaries of the realm, just like Muspelheim had today, just like…

"Jane is not the first to cross our borders without our permission…" Thor let the words hang. His father's face did not shilly, not a muscle moved, but it was now as if stone. 

"The ice-jotunn were aided by your brother, who is locked away and cannot wield his tricks anymore."

"And Jane is no enemy!"

Odin dismissed his words with a hissed breath. "All eyes are on Asgard, Thor! The realms whisper over our strength since Loki fell and then a mortal finds her way here where no other mortal being has managed. Did you not think that others would take notice? That they would not see the opportunity in that? The Bifrost may stand broken but that does not mean that all paths to Asgard are closed as this mortal child and now Muspelheim have proved!" 

The way Odin spoke of Jane's mortal standing picked at Thor's temper. In Asgardian years he knew Jane was young, so very young, but on Midgard she was accomplished and brilliant and she understood more about the cosmos than any that he knew, than he ever thought it was possible to see in Yggdrasil. She had built her own Bifrost out sheer will and determination in her search of him and answers.

Jane opened the path between the realms with no malice behind her actions, her mind and spirit driving her forward in the face of the seemingly impossible. 

To have his father twist her actions grieved and angered him. 

"That you aligned Jane's actions to those of Muspelheim is a slight to her and her efforts in repairing the Bifrost, Father," Thor said, feeling his edge of adrenaline from the battle spike, "And it is a slight to Asgard itself that you do not see her actions as those of an ally." 

Odin's gaze rested heavily on him for a beat and he moved to the window, turning away from Thor. "You are still young, my son. And you let your emotions rule your actions."

Thor sighed. "Perhaps, but I am not blinding myself to obvious truths for the sake of blame and strife. It was Muspelheim that struck at us today. They burnt our lands and injured our warriors. You know this, you see this, and I will not argue this fact. We have to double sentinel duties on the borders and send aid to those affected by the attacks. I will have Sif and Hogun head out to help the affected sentry positions from today and add to the training regime of the Einherjar guards."

"Asgard shook today, Son. The fires of Muspelheim are rising. Worrisome tidings." His father's figure cut a thick shadow by the window. On the glint of his shoulder coverings shone bright. "I expect you will join the troops once your arm has fully healed." The words were an order, from a King to a soldier, not a father speaking to a son. 

"Father?"

No further words came.

Thor nodded. He was dismissed. "Of course, my liege."

He moved towards the doors, Huginn and Muninn raising their voices as he left. His father stayed silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1 important note from my rough draft: EVERYTHING CHANGED WHEN THE FIRE NATION ATTACKED.


	6. 0.6

_.ash_

It felt like she’d barely seen Thor in days. 

After his arm finished healing he'd been called to patrol Asgard's borders and when he was back within the palace walls his time was taken up by leading training sessions and meetings with his father. He always came back tense from these meetings. His grin had become a stranger on his face since the fire giants attacked. They still spent meal times together when they could, when they remembered to eat, and there were times she would look up from her work to find him on the previously empty sofa, alone, watching her with a soft look on his face or looking out the large windows. The others rarely joined them anymore, too caught up with their own duties. Sif was the one Jane saw the most. 

Theories on how the fire giants came filled her. Did they follow her? Had something in the way she traveled opened the paths to others? And if so, how? Did the giants have their own way to travel between the planets—no realms, here they were _realms_ that functioned like countries connected by a network of roads? 

She almost imagined everything being connected as if by starlight and thought and will, but the fire giants had burned through Asgard's borders, shaking the realms, a force, a punch. 

She sat down after the attack and tried to understand the differences as Thor did his duty. She could feel them, the differences. When she asked Thor how her arrival had affected Asgard he had said nothing had happened. That she had slipped through like the wind. Heimdall pulled her through with his power when it seemed her Bridge's connection was failing. 

“It was only Mother who sensed your arrival with her Sight, and of course Heimdall. He has told you of what it felt like, has he not?” He had said. 

Jane nodded. “He said it looked and felt like a backwards connection. When he sends you across it’s like pointing an arrow and shooting it. When I came through, it was as if he was seeing that arrow come backwards, tail end first. The method was similar enough but different. Backwards. Like falling up.”

“That you managed it at all is a great achievement, Jane,” he’d said, thumbing the space between her brows. “And you will find out why it worked and how to repair the Bifrost again.”

She wanted to believe him, and she felt she was so close to understanding. Her dreams were coming sharper every night and yet faded faster when she woke. (Fire kept burning up the tree, up her arms; animals talked and Thor tried to keep her from falling; a well leaked and the sap tasted of tears.) She couldn’t hold on to what she saw like she wanted, just images she couldn’t make sense of, but one question filled her mind.

“Do you think I was allowed passage?” There had to be a difference in the way she arrived and Muspelheim. Why Asgard shook with fire when the giants came. Whatever she did was different from whatever Muspelheim did. She had used light and time, crudely speaking. Her physics had built a way across the bridge somehow and allowed her to climb up Yggdrasill. She had called light to light and light answered.

It was Thor’s turn to furrow his brow when she asked him that. It worried him, she had gathered as much, that she might have not made it through. Neither of them had expected her Bridge to work as it had. 

He brought her closer, pulling her from her side of the sofa to practically sit on his lap. He cupped her face then.

“If you were, then Yggdrasil is wiser and greater than I ever thought.”

It made Jane smile, it made some of the pressure on her chest lessen. “But you’re not biased,” she teased. Thor had kissed her and shifted on the sofa so they rested more comfortably. They got such little rest lately, both of them, this moment almost felt like stolen gift. 

“I am extremely biased. And grateful. I am glad you’re here Jane.” He carded his fingers through her hair and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

She had rested her head on his shoulder and for a second let the headiness that was Asgard, that were her feelings for Thor, overtake her. “I’m glad I’m here too.” Whatever the reason, she’d thought. But there was a reason. That she was sure of.

Since then she’d only seen Thor for minutes they tried to extend as if they could stretch time out by sheer force of will. 

Since then she worked tirelessly. Her translations were slow going, but it still felt she understood the more she worked, even as the language still was half a mystery to her. Sometimes she felt at first glance she even understood the words perfectly, but then she would blink and that moment was gone. Thankfully, the holograms were a big help. Where she could not make out the words she could see what they were describing and had to make up her own words and science for it. She was practically writing herself a guide to Asgardian physics as she worked and tried to decipher all she learned. And when Thor came by, his presence surprisingly quiet at times, he was still a comfort as the edges of tension filled the palace's halls. 

The sounds of the guards boots felt heavier, handmaidens seemed quieter, almost shadow‑like as they moved, and even Frigga who was still a comfort to Jane seemed affected. The lines around the queen's mouth and eyes were tighter, even when she smiled and led Jane across her gardens. 

However despite its current isolation from other realms, it did not mean that the other realms could not reach Asgard. She proved that. Muspelheim proved that. 

Asgard was open to attack, but could not attack themselves. Only defend. Only wait and defend. 

A race of warriors only waiting to be attacked. Jane could only imagine how unnatural it was all to them.

Thor's mouth and eyes had the same lines has his mother. The queen tried to hide them from Jane. Thor did not. They switched between their rooms most nights now. It was useless to pretend they didn’t want to spend as much time as they could together.

Still, part of Jane longed for the all too short days of mixing the dust from the healing stones with Eir's grass-smelling cream and applying it to his healing arm. Thor had kept close those days. Pulling her into his arms once she was done, his lips against hers in soft thanks. His body a steady reassurance against hers.

Bringing her fingers to her nose, Jane inhaled, thinking of the green smell of the cream. Her hands had smelled of nothing but that those few days. Days that felt like a blur now. The feeling of his free hand curving at her waist and how his mouth had spouted tales while she stood between his legs rubbing in lotion into his skin was all that remained. She had been glad to help. She also had a feeling he understood she liked feeling like she was helping him some tangible way; that she liked feeling how alive he was under her hands, unknotting the tension in her gut.

Now, Jane leaned back in her chair. 

Now, her fingers smelled of the soap she washed with, the edges of the strong tea she drank while she worked.

Speaking of, her work was currently spread out in front of her, waiting. She had her own duties, even if they were self imposed ones.

Focus, she told herself. She kept thinking of the Observatory and Heimdall and how Muspelheim bypassed them when Jane hadn't, but then again she hadn't meant to. She hadn't known what lay on the other side of her Bridge all she had known was that it existed. Thor lived there.

But even with the new Observatory mostly finished, Asgard's Bifrost didn’t function as a two-way system of travel anymore. The tests were almost daily now, despite the results not changing, and according to Heimdall, the Observatory should be finished with the week. The final test would be soon. 

Looking to where Thor tended to sit when he came to be with her, she sighed. He was out by where today's attack happened. He wouldn't be back until much later, long after sunset. She'd probably eat with Frigga again if she didn't lose herself in research as she was prone to. 

Selfishly, she missed him. She missed everyone. She never minded being alone, but sometimes Asgard felt to big, too willing to blind her with it’s gold.

Jane sighed, she couldn’t just sit and wallow just because she was feeling blocked. She wouldn’t. She needed to do something, she needed to think. She was out the doors of her room before she even registered where she was going. All she could think of was Yggdrasil. 

-

If there was constant in Asgard, it would be Heimdall at the Bifrost. Even when it didn’t work he stood there, everyone told her, and kept watch over the realms. And over Jane herself, as she learned. 

She stepped off the skif, Fulla nodding to her that she would wait with the guard while Jane spoke to Heimdall, and felt of some of the weight she’d felt earlier lessen. The crystal shimmered with her every step and Jane couldn’t help but smile. She touched her necklace as she stared at the crystal path resonating her steps.

Walking to the Observatory she watched as the etchings in the gold dome curled and seemed to write themselves. It looked like a spell, she knew, but she had been there when the workers had set pressed the glowing canisters in strategic places around the dome and unleashed what appeared to be self replicating nanobots, that wrote the star maps and constellations of Asgard on the dome. She wanted to reach out and touch it.

She curled her fingers around her notebook and walked to towards Heimdall.

“Jane Foster, welcome. What brings you to my post today?”

One thing she liked about Heimdall was that he was always steady and friendly.

“Hi, Heimdall. I just--” she licked her lips. “I need to think, but I don’t-- I couldn’t think in there.” She waved towards Asgard, towards the palace, and felt slightly guilty. She could feel her face flush. Outside the halls of the palace and gates of the city, the air was the same, but the cosmos felt closer. Jane felt lighter.

Heimdall only nodded. “Sometimes new scenery refreshes the mind, Lady Jane. You are always welcome to come here.”

Jane grinned brightly. “Thank you.” She walked forward, Heimdall at her side and nodded towards the steps to where the sword stand stood, questioning. Heimdall nodded. Jane fanned her dress around her and sat.

“So sometimes I think out loud…”

“I welcome your thoughts.”

“Good, because sometimes I think I have too many.”

“Such as?”

Jane bit her lip and opened her notebook. Her notes were jumbled. Languages overlapped in her handwriting and brain. 

Too many thoughts. Too many theories. 

One problem at a time, Jane, her father had always said.

One thing at a time, Jane. 

She shook her head.

“If I told you I thought something happening within the system of Yggdrasil itself, maybe, what would you say?”

“With Yggdrasil?” Heimdall’s golden eyes widened a fraction, and he turned his head towards the stars. Jane followed his gaze and tried to see what he saw. She felt that maybe she had before. Her dreams were getting weirder. Then he stepped forward. He held his sword in front of him and leaned on the hilt. 

“I would say that I have thought the same, Lady Jane. I cannot see that deep into Yggdrasil, but the realms carry deeper shadows since the Bifrost broke.”

Jane set her jaw. “Well, then we’ll just have to find out what that means.”

If the system was broke there had to be a way to fix it. 

 

 

_.the observatory_

It was finished. 

Last time she and Thor had ridden out to the Observatory it had appeared about three-fourths built. When she had arrived the dome shape had seemingly been building itself but she knew it wasn't so. The webbing structure that made the bones of most Asgardian buildings clicked away together like a self replicating netting that served as a foundation for the metal overlay. Asgard’s version of architects and construction workers then weaved heavy magic -- energy bindings -- around the golden sections. She had spoken to a few during her time here and they had explained the system. She had understood a good part of it. Tony would have loved it, she had thought. The engineer in him would have had a field day at how they told her the energy was called up and harnessed. She had thought of the arc reactor powering Stark Tower, but grander and with the equivalent to nuclear energy. 

And now, that work was done. All that was left was to reconnect.

It seemed all of Asgard was waiting. A large group circled around the opening of the bridge, standing before where the crystal pathway extended down towards Heimdall. She wanted to be there, at the source to be able to see the connection as it happened, but Thor told her they would go later, after the initial, ceremonial connection. She had pouted, which he only seemed to find amusing as he kissed her and promised they would spend all the time she wished down at the dome later.

For now, they stood next to Odin and Frigga where the bridge opened up, the crystal stretching out in front of them. Thor was at her side as they waited for Heimdall to start the connection. Behind them, Asgard stood with bated breath. Near them, the head architect Mimir murmured some words Jane didn’t catch.

An Einherjar rode up the path on a horse and nodded to Odin, who nodded back.

Heimdall was about to start the sequence. 

Jane wondered if he would call up Earth first. She would have like to see her friends again. She’d like to tell them she really was alive. 

At the other end of the Bridge the dome started spinning. Jane reached out and grabbed at Thor’s hand. She felt him squeeze hers back and she would have looked at him except the Bridge. 

The crystal path seemed to pulse brighter, it’s prisming colours clearer, and the dome-- God, the done spun and spun and she bit her lip. With her other hand she reached up and touched her necklace, wrapping her fingers around the crystal, which seemed warmer as she held it tight. 

Jane could hear the people around her, she could feel Thor’s warm hand around hers, and the dome spun. She didn’t even realise as she took a step forward as if to start walking down the path.

She didn’t feel the ground shake at first. But then, it was all she could feel as she stumbled into Thor and the edge of land right before the bridge vibrated. 

At the other end of the Bridge, the dome was spinning but nothing was happening. She looked up at Thor whose mouth looked grim. 

“Thor?” He looked down at her and pulled her to his side as everyone gasped and braced themselves. The energy the Observatory was expelling was doing nothing. It was recoiling and throwing itself back on the dome, on the path. Flashes of lightning flared bright over the gold. The dome began slowing down and the ground at her feet still shook. The crystal path glowed brighter and brighter as it was trying to recycle the energy back without cracking.

Before them the crystal path pulsed and then finally dimmed in a way Jane hadn’t witnessed before. Her chest felt tight. Her mouth dry.

In front of her, Frigga and Odin looked at each other. Jane met Thor’s eyes. Behind her, the crowd’s murmurs grew and Jane didn’t have to hear them to understand what they were saying. 

The Observatory didn’t connect.2

The Bifrost still remained closed.

Jane was about to ask Thor what they were about to do now, when Odin turned sharply and caught her and Thor’s eyes. She cringed inwardly at the blame she saw pointed at her. Thor stepped partly in front her, holding her hand so tight it almost hurt. Jane held it back just as hard, or at least, she tried. 

She wanted to say something, but she didn’t know what. She wanted to step forward and stand in front of Thor. It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t her fault.

But before she could move, Odin’s gruff voice cut through. “Fix it.”

It was not a suggestion, it was not a plea of help, it was a threat and Jane took it as challenge. She stiffened her chin and took a step forward. Standing by Thor’s side, she looked at Odin’s judging gaze and held it.

 

_.hammer and nail_

 

The next afternoon Thor found her in her room asleep on one of the chaises near the window. Asgard's longer days caught up to her much faster when she went without regular sleep. Their length wasn't the problem. Jane was known to work without breaks for double that, but Fulla wasn't as effective as Darcy in making her take breaks, considering all her other duties, and, really, Asgard could benefit from starting a coffee franchise. Mead was great but it didn't really help in all night work sessions. Their tea was strong and she quite liked it, but it didn’t work the same way. 

Jane found she fell into exhaustion more quickly here. She wasn't fond of the realisation. 

She woke as Thor sat at the other end of the chaise, watched her as she pressed a knuckle to her eye, rubbing the sleep out. Her notebook had dropped to the floor, face down. Jane frowned at it and reached to pick it up. Her own words made her frown further.

Thor closed a hand over her ankle. His thumb rubbed at her instep. 

Jane shot him a smile, a warm feeling coating her stomach. 

"I heard you worked in the Hall of Magics into the early hours of the day," Thor said, never stopping the gentle motion of his thumb on her skin. 

Jane's toes curled. "Everyone's busy. I feel useless not contributing."

He tugged her closer. "You are. I've passed by the study. Your papers cover every inch of the tables. Your rune work is already better than mine." He fingered the edge of her dress, one of the plainer and more comfortable ones she had here, the tips of his fingers brushing her calf before he smoothed the material down. 

"I'm writing theories and going in circles, I’m not much help." She sat up and moved closer to him.

"Your work is different than mine."

"I'm seen as useless."

"Never."

Jane was touched. She knew Thor believed that. She knew her new friends believe that, too. Others however… 

"I know, I know." She reached out, tracing her fingers along his jaw. His lips bussed her palm. "I know you don't, but… I feel that way. I see you and the others go out and here I am just going over the same data." She swallowed, knowing that what she was about to ask was going to be difficult for Thor to listen to. "I want to go where they came in. Get data from the site."

Thor thumb stopped stroking her foot. "Jane, that is too dangerous. They could attack again."

"Then go with me. You won't let anything happen to me."

He sighed, leaning back on the chaise. The lines around his mouth deepened. "Jane."

Sitting up, she slid closer to him. "I need the field data. I’ve been reading up on the fire jotunn and if I'm to figure out how it is that they were able to get here and why Heimdall still can't call the Bridge—"

"Bifrost."

"Bifrost forth when even others can travel here," she corrected herself, smiling, "I need to look at all the variables and no offence to your people but they don't really have a great Asgard-to-Earth technical dictionary. Eir has been showing me with the healing stuff-- it’s quantum field generator by the way, I don’t care what you guys call it. But it’s a little different."

"If the scholars haven't been granting you the proper…" Thor started; he was always so ready to stand up for her. 

"No, they're fine and the texts have really helped, and that they allow me to sit down the Hall with about seven holograms like five year old watching learning videos is pretty nice of them too, but maybe if I go to the site I'll get a better understanding of what's happening." She grinned, probably too wide. "Field data matters, too."

She leaned up, cupping his face. His hands fell to her waist and boosted her closer, breathing her name. He did that more lately. Pulled her closer, held her just a little tighter. Before the attack he had touched her easily, casually, with an undercurrent of more, but now everyday he came back for the training or his rides out to the outer edges of the realm his touches felt more purposeful. 

Jane didn't mind it. 

One hand drifted up her back and cradled the back of her head. She tilted her chin up, lips parting against his.

Thor's mouth was hot, his lips dry, and he tasted a little of mead. Jane scratched lightly at his beard as she traced his top lip with her tongue. 

"If the root tea had the properties of coffee, I would have been awake when you came in."

Thor chuckled against her mouth. She swallowed the sound. His easy laughter was becoming hard to come by. She felt too proud to have pulled it out. "Once we reconnect with Midgard I will have coffee brought to you by the gallons."

"You like it as much I do." She kissed the corner of his mouth, rubbing her nose against his. 

"By the tons then," he said, moving them on the chaise. Jane gave a short sound of surprise as her back hit the soft velvet like material and blinked up at him. His eyes were bright, lips now shining wetly. She licked her own lips at the sight. She wanted nothing more than to pull him down and kiss his lips again. But first she needed to know they were on the same page.

"I still want to go check out the field of the attack. The entry point."

Thor eyes closed, the arm around her back didn't move but his other tensed and he leaned up. When he opened them again, he nodded. "We will."

"And Heimdall after; I have a few questions for him, too."

This time he smiled, slow and soft. "You are insatiable, Jane."

She giggled, "I'm taking that as a compliment. And don't worry, I'll be fine." Carding her fingers through his hair, she leaned up and pressed her lips against his again. Thor met her readily, his tongue seeking out hers. If he held her a little closer, a little tighter than before, Jane didn't mention it. She felt hypocritical to do so since she wanted him just as close, and safe, with her.

-

The field was like something from a dream or something she had read in an old literature class. Jane eyes passed over its lush yellows and greens briefly as Thor led them towards where the attack happened on one of the hovership. Here the colours changed. The ground became charred black and full of grey ash that somehow still fell from the sky. 

Jane caught a flake of the ash in her hand and was surprised to find it was still warm. 

"Oh."

Thor took her hand and blew the ash away. Pressed his mouth where the ash had touched her skin. "The fire jotunn magic is strong."

Her eyes slid over to his newly healed arm and nodded. "Yeah, I noticed… The entry point." Thor didn't let go of her hand and nodded to the left. "Just there, the magic is stronger there."

Squaring her shoulders, Jane looked up at him, "Good, that'll help." She hoped she sounded more confident than she felt. Thor's hand tightened around hers. She squeezed back.

A few seconds later they had reached the entry point. It rose from the ground like an open wound. Or a small volcano. Jane's hand fell away from Thor as she moved forward and kneeled down. The dress fanned out around her and she completely forgot how careful she'd been up until now with the clothes gifted to her. Bent at the edge of the of the opening where she could see markings. She wished she had her particle reader and Geiger counter. She opened on the holodisks and set it to record the area. She eyed the readings it was gathering. 

The attack had been almost a week ago and the area was still warm, she felt, holding her palm over it. The markings were different from those that'd been left on Earth, too. 

Jane leaned forward. The magic was different. Had to be. Squinting, she stared at the markings, trying to pull together all that she remembered from what she learned from Thor's arrival and since arriving on Asgard, Jane touched an edge of the rune markings with her finger. It almost burned. What the Bifrost had left behind on Earth had made her instruments hum and smelt slightly of ozone. She now knew it also left trace amounts of Bifrost energy ‑ magic ‑ and very light levels of gamma waves. This felt more elemental. Smelled like brimstone. She wondered what her instruments would pick up. Slight levels of radiation? Possibly. The air above the opening was hazy with remaining heat. Was the fire‑giants magic still heating the air molecules somehow?

Magic reacting against magic?

Energy reacting against energy?

And if magic-- if molecular energy could be manipulated to cut a path between realms--

If she just considered magic just the unit of energy they used here-- 

A large hand covered her hand, pulled it away from the ground where her finger felt much warmer than it had been. Jane blinked and turned to see Thor kneel next to her, eyes heavy with worry.

"We’ve been sealing the traces of fire-magic that remain, but it is a complicated business," Thor explained, running his fingers over her now very warmed ones. Radiation cleanup, Jane thought.

"I can imagine," she said, looking out at the runes. "I wonder how it's called forth."

"Jane?"

She turned to him. "Your Bifrost is a bit like a light beam meeting a vortex storm and you told me that when Heimdall calls it that it looks like lightning in the Observatory. This clearly left fire in its wake so I wonder if they call it with fire too. Possibly geothermal? My Bridge looked, from my point of view anyway, like a beam of light, probably because I based it heavily on yours and what I learned from it. I don't know how it affected the weather, or if it did at all, like yours does…

"And I should go ask Heimdall how everyone is dealing with things back on Earth," she trailed off. Last time she checked in with Heimdall they were still trying to find a way to get reopen the Bridge on their side. They still believed she was alive, too. Jane thought back to her own trip to Asgard. Remembered Bruce’s arm cutting across the energy field. She could never forget how he had almost transformed on the roof to save her. 

In the end she hadn't needed saving but none of them had known that at the time. The first time she asked Heimdall about what was happening on Earth he had told her they were all worried. That they had gone to a doctor with a strange name to ask about her and that due to this man's words and the data her machine had given out they believed she had made it to Asgard. Jane only hoped one day soon she could reconnect the bridges again and show them that she had.

One day soon.

Thor brushed a stray strand of hair away from her face. “You-- _We_ shall see our Midgardian friends again, Jane.”

"Right, yeah," Jane breathed, resting her cheek against his hand. "It'd be nice to tell them I'm okay, though?"

"We will tell them together."

"Yeah, _we_ will." She turned her gaze back to the burnt circle and pulled out a grin. "Time to work, I guess. Got my book?"

Giving her a soft look, Thor pulled out her notebook from between his armour and clothes. "Of course." Jane kissed his cheek and grabbed the book, flipping it open, grabbing the pen tucked between its pages and moving back to the runes. The hem of her dress was getting dirtier with every step, catching stray bits of ash, but she paid it no mind as she set about making notes on what she saw. Thor stayed close by, answering her questions and speaking to the guards on duty. She didn't know when Hogun and Fandral joined them but she was grateful. Hogun being more knowledgeable than Thor and the others in the ways of magic — something about being Vanir — was always a great help to her in further understanding how Asgard worked.

By the time they left the field Jane's mind was full and her legs were tired. She knew that Thor didn't tire like she did but as they headed back to the palace she couldn't help but notice the heaviness in his eyes. It mirrored the one she felt in her chest. 

-

Later, Jane shuffled through the papers in front of her and came across her notebook. For the first time she began using it she studied it. She studied it as if it wasn’t hers, as if she’d just come across it in a research library. She looked at the pages as detachedly as she could, hoping to see a new angle on them. 

Many of the pages were already filled, runes — god, _runes_ , she wrote in runes now — tucked into the margins, asides in a language she didn't always understand, and theories. Coming to Asgard had filled her with more questions than answers and Jane flipped to a fresh page. She was nearing the end of the book. How long had she been here anyway? 

She had stopped counting Earth days a while ago. 

Time blurred. Asgard blurred around her in gold and bronze. 

She missed the steadiness of Midgard-- Earth. She missed Earth, some days more than others. She needed to fix the system not only for Thor, not only for Asgard, but because she wanted to to breath in air that didn’t rest so thick on her tongue and felt light in her head. Asgard was wondrous, but Earth was… her. 

Shaking herself out of her melancholy thoughts, Jane focused on the problem at hand. 

Tapping her pen on the page, which she noted, was running out of ink, Jane settled in to work.

There had to be something happening within the edges she couldn't reach with science or what she had learned of Asgard's magic, something which held the answer to the Bifrost's continuing state. 

_What if_ , she wrote, _something within the network of wormholes (Yggdrasil's system?) connecting Asgard and the other worlds is broken and affecting the structural integrity of the world they're connected to. (Dying?)_

_~~(What if Yggdrasil is dying?)~~ _

 

_.understanding_

 

"If you wish to head back, I understand," Sif said as they rode across the eastern borders. It seemed he wasn't keeping his thoughts as guarded as he had hoped. 

"I am fine," he said, making sure to keep his face blank.

"You seem it," she said; Thor smiled privately, "but when you are not schooling your face you look fraught with worry." His private smile dimmed. 

"Your eyes remain as sharp as ever, Sif."

She grinned, full of cheek and pride, an edge of warmth at its end. "Thank you, a family trait." They rode for a few minutes longer before she spoke again. "But you are still worried."

Thor sighed, turning towards Asgard. They were far enough away that they could only see the glint of the tallest building of the city. Asgard sat immovable, moored at the top of the realms, preparing for actions they could not predict. The last war Thor remembered had been fought in lands not their own. Asgard, itself, had not seen war since from the time of his father's youth. There was part of him that wished to strike at Muspelheim as they had Asgard. He then remembered Jotunheim and what his last impulsive wish had wrought.

He sighed. On the horizon the palace stood ensconced in the innermost circle of the city, its tallest building. The bright jewel of Asgard protected by the sharp beauty of the rest of the realm. 

Jane was in there, probably deep in her work, possibly lunching with his mother; safe. When they walked the Vingard yesterday he had struggled not to pull her back every time she had reached out to take a closer look at the runes burnt into the field's ground. The remaining elemental magic in the field would not do her any harm but it wasn't just the fear of an unseen attack that worried Thor.

Jane understood more runes every day and while he did not doubt her bright mind and ability to understand the ways of Asgard's magic in her own way, he saw certain minutia in the notes she shared with him that left him troubled. She had told him the symbols were Midgardian — mathematics symbols, she said — but they looked elvish. Some even dwarfish. Yesterday she looked at some of the few jotunn texts they had and it had looked like she had understood the pattern the words were making if not the details. 

He knew she looked to understand beyond anything else, but he feared that she was taking in too much too fast. Asgard was not a world for mortals, his father kept saying, and while he had never thought at all on the magic that held his home and the nine realms together, the magic that was breathed in the very air, he could not help but think of how it might be affecting Jane. 

The idea that Asgard might be harming Jane was not one he liked to dwell on, and coupled with the fact they now truly seemed on the brink of war with Muspelheim, Thor felt heavy of heart.

"These last few days have been difficult," he extended to Sif.

Sif exhaled heavily as she rode alongside, "To say the least."

"Jane pushes herself to understand why the Bifrost still does not function…"

"She is driven."

Thor smiled at Sif's words. "That she is." He eyed the realm's edges, "Father has not warmed to her, a vexation in itself, but as he is occupied with thoughts of defence and war I find that I cannot hold onto my anger towards him as tightly as I want."

"Why, that is almost wise, Thor," said Sif, a smirk curving her lips. 

"He thought she was at fault for Muspelheim attack," he told her; the first person he had spoken the words to. He could not bear to tell Jane yet and the thought of speaking of the matter with his mother twisted at him. He had a feeling she already knew and better understood his father's harsh actions and words and if they had not yet spoken of the matter Thor did not wish to place his mother further between her sons and husband. 

Sif's words of shock were welcome.

"He could not! That—that is madness," Sif sputtered, stopping short for a few seconds before pushing forward alongside him again. "Jane is… JANE!"

That made Thor laugh. Jane was indeed Jane. She was singled-minded, fierce, and brilliant and so open that to believe she was an enemy was as Sif said, madness; a laughable madness. 

"Anger fuelled his words, but he does not see her as I do, or you do. He sees only a mortal that trespassed onto the realm. He does not find her worthy." 

"I—I would not presume to doubt the All-Father's wisdom, but," Thor could only imagine how difficult those words had been to utter for Sif, whose loyalty to his family was as strong as Asgard was eternal, "Jane… She is Jane! She is a dear heart and warm and bright as Sol. To think her an enemy… Bah!" Sif paused, her lips pressed into a tight line, her face considering. Thor titled her a look. The look on Sif's face was curious one. 

"She loves you."

Thor almost pulled up short, swallowed. "Sif."

She struck him across the arm. "That cannot come as a shock to you."

It didn’t. 

Swallowing again, he mumbled, "We have not exchanged the words." 

Now Sif laughed. "As I said before, if you wish to head back, I fully understand."

"We have yet a league to cover and training when we return. We should press on," he said and they did just that. Thor would not be able to sit idly by knowing he did not do everything he could to make sure that the realm was safe tonight; that Jane was safe.

Sif shook her head at him but said nothing further. 

\- 

The next day during the winding down of the afternoon training session Thor caught sight of Jane at the edges of the arena by herself. He couldn't help but smile at sight she made. She was writing furiously on the notebook that was resting on her lap, the long skirts of her dress spread around her legs and the ground. 

She would have painted the very picture of intellectual serenity except for the deep furrowing of her brow.

His look over to Jane almost cost him his concentration and the tip of Fandral's sword swiped his arm. Thor moved out of the blade's way before it cut too deeply into his skin as he was not practicing in full battle armour, but he could feel the light pressure of the sharp rapier. 

Fandral crowed both in taunt and triumph, pushing forward even as Thor rounded on him. The next of Fandral's strike connected with Mjölnir's side, the clang of the metal against metal a resounding sound that echoed.

"The scenery is quite distracting, is it not?" Fandral joked, ducking a swing with a smile. "I do not blame you from looking away, however I am insulted. Am I not pretty enough?"

Thor laughed, blocking. Parrying with the hammer against Fandral's whip quick sword was always a lesson in speed. "Dashing, as always, my friend, but compared to Jane there is no competition."

With a dramatic wide swing of sword and yell, Fandral charged forward. "For my honour!"

Attention back on his current bout, Thor defended as need be but the fight was winding down. Near him Sif was finishing with some soldiers. Volstagg and Hogun were due back tonight from their last few days leading the patrols. These days he felt for Hogun the most, still separated from his family. The failed connection of the Observatory had him living up to his Grim moniker more than usual. 

But no other attacks had occurred. Heimdall kept a close watch on Muspelheim and reported nothing of note. Still, Thor felt as if something lurked in the edges unseen. 

Finishing with Fandral, he headed over to Sif and nodded at her while she announced the new schedule they had come up with. She nodded towards Jane, who was still focused entirely on her work, smiling. "If she can work through yours and Fandral's yelling she can work through Ragnarok itself."

Thor looked over to Jane, something in his heart lurching at Sif's words. "Something I hope we'll never have to find out if true."

Sif smiled. "By Idunn's grace. Now, off with you, smelly ox." She pushed at his shoulders.

Chuckling, Thor tugged at Sif's braid. "Jane likes how I smell."

"At least someone does!" Sif's shout followed him as he headed over to Jane, landing on the ground next to her just as she looked up. 

"Oh, hey." Jane grinned, eyes sparkling. "You were great out there…" she trailed off at his look and chuckled." From what I saw when I first sat down."

"Thank you, Jane."

Their eyes met and Thor mouth's spread into a smile to match hers. For a second time seemed to stretch out as they sat. Strands of her hair flew across her cheeks as they flushed under the sun, loose in the wind, and he could imagine her so easily sitting next to him, her clever eyes shining, for the rest of his life. The thought sunk into him, a shock and a realisation wrapped up as one, and settled in his chest. 

He could see her working, blending Midgard's ways with Asgard's own, having her own place next to his own Hliðskjálf, travelling between Midgard and Asgard and strengthening the bonds of the realms. These images filled his heart and he swore he felt it skip a beat. 

The words caught in his throat. 

Jane leaned forward, her pen in her hand dropping as she reached forward, and touched the small cut Fandral made. 

"Already healing…" she murmured, and he caught the tone of wonder in her voice. 

He smiled; thought of Idunn's apples, said, "You are a great distraction."

Her gaze snapped up to his from where she'd been watching the cut heal. "What?"

Thor twined the fingers that had just brushed his skin and brought them to his lips. His teeth ran gently across her knuckles. Jane sucked her bottom lip under her teeth; she shifted closer. The wind blew her hair across her face and his. 

"My attention was stolen most thoroughly by the sight of you and Fandral managed a hit," he said. He tucked her hair back, leaning forward to kiss her.

"Oh, sorry," she said, lips curving and cheeks pinking. 

The thought of pressing her back into the warm grass and covering her lips with his own was heavily considred. If they were alone he would have, but he could hear the shouts from the training area behind him. Touching the edge of the material by her knees, Thor cleared his throat. "Shall we take a walk? I should change."

Jane blinked as if his words were the last thing she was expecting and then nodded, smoothing her free hand across a cheek. "Yeah, sure, I actually have a few things to share with you."

Keeping her hand in his, he stood and helped her up, watching as she brushed at her skirt, a quick sheepish look flashing across her face. He heard her quiet mutter, "And this is why you wear jeans and not gowns, Jane." The tone low enough he knew he had not been meant to hear and thus acted as such. 

But he did not have to allow that look to remain. He looped his hand through Jane's arm, "Tell me of your day, Jane." She grinned up at him, that slight dimness flitting away and told him of her day spent with Heimdall at the Bifrost before she came to watch him. They separated when he went to freshen up and change before he headed back to where he knew he'd find her still working. 

At the doors Fulla bowed to him, confirming that they were dining with his mother before he headed inside. Jane was on the floor, papers and scrolls spread out around her in a circle. She looked up as he entered, her eyes glazed as if unseeing him — a lick of thick worry coated his stomach — then she blinked and they cleared. The worry faded but did not leave. 

"Hey! Sorry about the mess, did I miss dinner? I was just looking at my notes and it just hit me!" She stood in the middle of her circle of papers and spun, looking at ground, stopping to bend down and pick one up. "If it’s not Asgard, if it's not Earth, it might be the in-between. I mean, I can't be completely sure right, I'd have to study the power source that Heimdall uses to connect to the Bridge--Bifrost. I already asked Mimir about copies of the results of the failed connection, which he says shouldn’t have failed. And I think I agree with him, because what if the problem is in the between?" 

She waved the paper at him, her eyes shining, and he caught a glimpse of a familiar tree like structure. It was the page he had drawn on back on Midgard. "Energy affects energy, doesn't it? And here energy is magic, right?”

She moved through her papers and pulled another, showing it to him. Her mathematics covered it. Runes filled the edges of it.

"What if the problem of the connection lies in the branches! The void between realms. The magic connecting Asgard to the everything else became unstable during your fight with Loki. It was going all over the place, all over _space_. The stability of the connection depends on the wormhole, but when I came through the connection wasn't stable at all. I remember that much. Heimdall had to pull me through the last leg, which I don’t think he should have been able to, actually..." Jane hopped over her papers, reaching out to him. Thor took hold of her hand and held on tightly. For a second it seems as if Jane's words and mind was taking her away to a place beyond him. 

"A fact I will forever be thankful for."

Jane beamed at him. "Me too, and I think that's the key. The between. It's still damaged. Yggdrasill is called The World Tree, so if we go with that, then what happens to a tree with something affects its nutrient system, if branches gets cut off? "

"Are you sure?"

She shrugged, "As sure as I can be at the moment. I'm going to need to see about the power source that runs Observatory and… ideally I'd need to study how the connection is currently functioning, but seeing as that's impossible and I didn't have a particle detector on me when I came through and I have no way to study the exotic matter, which is going to make this a challenge. I know there’s the Tesseract, and your dad used Dark Energy to send you to Earth…"

Thor swallowed, his stomach twisting in knots once again for a reason he could not fathom. "I will ask him to speak you on the matter. Heimdall can still see between the realms and the Lady Amora is well versed in the ways of some of these magicks, if I remember correctly, she could be of some help to you."

A look passed over Jane's face too quickly for him to read it. "I'm definitely going to be asking Heimdall about what he can tell me." She paused and swallowed thickly enough that Thor watched her throat work. Her eyes flitted away from him for a second before she looked back, her fingers tightened around his hand. "What I need is to talk to someone who's studied and experience the broken Bridge and the other paths of travel like me."

The knot in his stomach twisted unpleasantly. 

"Jane… you don't know what you're asking."

She bit her lip. "I do know. I'm describing your brother."

The idea of Loki and Jane in the same room, his brother's words ringing in his mind, filled Thor with a dread unlike one he had felt before. "He would not speak to you, cannot not."

"I get that, I really do, and I don’t really want to speak to him, but I think he might have something to do with this, maybe even indirectly."

The words were not what Thor was expecting at all. Loki? In league with Muspelheim, impossible! And he said as much to Jane, "That's madness, Jane! Loki would never align himself with the fire jotunn!" 

"He aligned himself with the Chitauri! How are these guys any different?" She shot back, snatching her hand away from him.

"Loki would never risk it! He knows what it is written!" _Twilight_ , sounded heavily in his head.

"What does that even mean!"

Thor barely heard her. "Loki, I believe, now would do a great many things to prove himself worthy, powerful, and fearful, but aligning himself with Sutur and the fire jotunn would mean something greater than simple revenge upon Asgard and I will not believe that Loki has fallen so far from us. I cannot... To even think it!" He spun away from her, anger at Jane's words swirling inside him.

"Listen! I understand that, I do, he's your brother," Jane said, stepping into his path, tone matching his. She had fierce look on her face, her hands clenched at her side. "And from what you've told me that when you broke the Bifrost and he fell, he must have experienced things we can't even imagine when he was floating in there for god knows how long before he found the Chitauri. We don't know what he's seen, or who, and I don't know for sure if he's involved or not with what's happened, what I do know is that he seems to be the only person who's travelled across the worlds without the aid of a bridge and maybe he knows something, maybe he doesn't, but it can't hurt to ask."

"Twilight," Thor murmured, earning another confused look from Jane. He shook his head. It could not be. "He's been locked away. It is impossible for him to help Muspelheim from where he is confined."

Jane sighed, heavily. "I don't know him well enough, so I can't judge, but I do know that according to you and other very smart people Loki has seen more of the World Tree system than anyone else on Asgard. That he understands what it takes to travel across it like few others do. And maybe you're right, he's been locked up and he didn't start this thing with Muspelheim. But maybe his actions, here and on Earth did something to the system. Something happened between our worlds, and it's still happening, and why even with Observatory finished it doesn’t even spark a connection.. And right now Loki's actions are the only things I see connecting this to that."

Thor hated the truth in Jane's words and the factual way she presented them. 

She did not know Loki, something he hated he was glad for, because he could see the cold look in his eyes when his brother had last spoken of her, but she did not _know_ Loki. She knew the tales, recent tales from those on Midgard, himself and others of Asgard, but those tales were of a Loki Thor never wanted her to meet. Thor wanted her to know the Loki he remembered, the Loki he feared gone, the Loki he loved. 

It was still painful to hope for the return of his mischievous brother when his cold, calculating twin stood in his place. 

His eyes drifted to the papers. He knew their haphazard way of covering the floor was a mirror of how she was processing her findings. Something stuck in his throat. 

"Jane, are you not sure that you are trying too hard to see connections as you've hit a wall in your work?" The second the words were out Thor knew they had been a mistake and that he did not believe them. 

Jane's face, normally so open and expressive, shuttered. Her eyes went dim. 

Thor wished to swallow back the last ten-seconds of his life. "Jane! I am sorry, I did not mean…"

She took a step back from him, and nothing could have hurt him more. He also knew that his words had done the same to her. She was looking down at her feet, but when she spoke her voice was strong. "I should get cleaned up for dinner. We're eating with your mother aren't we?" She looked up and her look was hard, but he could still see the hurt under the surface. 

Nodding stiffly, Thor bowed his head. "Jane."

She moved towards the desk, hands whipping her skirts back. He watched her as she organised some of her papers, everything bright about her turning inward before his eyes. Thor never imagined Jane silent or meek, he didn’t like think he had cause this. Did not like to think it even possible.  
He walked towards her, trying to find the right words. His arm automatically went to steady her as she lifted her dress to slip on her shoes. She spun to face him, smacking him in the chest with one of the clenched shoes in her hand.

“Don’t!”

Her eyes glowed. She smacked him with the other shoe, forcing him to hold it.

"And for the record, I'm not just 'making up connections'. I'm not just making theories up. What I'm looking at is connections that _exist_ and I am trying to make sense of them. Trying to make sense of all these thoughts in my head, half of which I know _don't_ make sense," she growled, waving her clenched shoe in the air before reaching down to put it on. She didn't even notice his hand at her waist, steadying her. He nodded. 

"I'm working to try and figure out what could possibly be the biggest question in the universe and I know Loki is your brother and that you love him, and that you’re mad at him, but if he does know something and he's not helping then he's just as responsible for what's happening. And I'm not wrong about _that_." She slipped her other shoe on and pushed at his chest. Thor took the step back. 

Jane stalked past him and shouted over her shoulder, "See you at dinner! Don't be late, your mother doesn't like it."

With a deep breath, Thor sat back against the edge of the table and watched her leave. He had known his words had been ill spoken, wrong, and poked at some of Jane's unspoken insecurities. And in that second he watched her fold into herself he wished to never see that sight again, but then she had rounded on him, bright as the fire from the roof that night, every thought he'd been having the last few hours was confirmed:

She'd make a wondrous queen.

 

_.the observers_

“They don’t understand, do they?”

“They’ll understand soon enough,” said Dain, the water from his antlers dripping and streaming down the branch.

Ratatosk snorted. “You’re an optimist.” He leaned down and cleaned his claws with the water before licking them. Dain’s water was the best in the all the realms. “They don’t see it.”

“She does. He does.”

“She’s different.”

Veðrfölnir swooped down and landed on Dain’s top most antler. He shook his head and he sprinkled water about. Ratatosk glared. Veðrfölnir laughed.

“And remember that. Mother knows best, after all.”

“What are you even doing here?”

“Your dragon friend is gloating.”

Ratotosk ears perked. “Is he? Well, I must be going now!” Soon the sounds of little nails clicking their way down the tree sounded. Dain levelled a look at the hawk. Veðrfölnir shrugged, his wings flicked outward and caught the edge of Sol’s warm trail.

“Instigator,” said the deer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2AND HERE IS WHERE WE TAKE A HARD LEFT FROM THE MCU CANON! Here is where Thor 2 really fucked me over and I got mad at myself for not having this posted before it like I meant to have done. In case you're not sure how it fucked me over: basically Thor 2 states that as soon as the Observatory was rebuilt the Bifrost was in working order again. This made complete sense and tbh I can't believe I missed how SIMPLE the solution really was, but the scope of my headcanon about Jane, Thor, the Bifrost, Yggdrasil was a lot wider and bigger and annoyingly complicated. (also like... Thor not going to see Jane as soon as he could? Did. Not. Compute. Tho again, Thor doing his duty and following his father's orders if not for himself but for Asgard and the Nine Realms? Well, this is the dude Thor grew up to be. But let's not get into my Thor feelings and headcanons or we'll be here all day.)
> 
> But, tbh, this is why finishing the rest of the fic took a longer than planned. I had to have a long talk to myself about what Thor 2 gave us and what I had already written, I had to decide: am I going to ignore Thor 2? am I going to rewrite pretty much my whole main plot to make it fit Thor 2? In the end I went: I'm gonna blend what Thor 2 showed us as much as I can but I'm going to keep my plot, this fic was always going become AU to some respect anyway-- I have talking squirrels and eagles! Fuzz pretty much held my hand through this difficult time a lot. Once I decided on that then came... okay how can have Thor 2's information make sense alongside mine? I don't think I did a perfect job with this, but I did what felt right within the fic. 
> 
> So hard left. The Observatory is up but not running, or it is running, but not as it should. Cue: only having to rewrite 1/4 of my plot, I could live with that and did. I swear I'm gonna finish this fic (*fingers crossed*) before Thor 3 bc I CANNOT GO THROUGH THIS AGAIN.


	7. 0.7

_.shadow speaker_

 

After dinner, Jane went to her room without waiting for Thor as had become custom between them. He watched silently as Sif followed Jane out, Fulla trailing them. Thor pretended not to see the look Sif shot him as they departed from the table. 

The words exchanged with Jane still weighed heavily on his mind and a selfish, small part of him was grateful his father had not joined them. Not that his father ever did, but the tension between them had been noticeable even though through silent agreement they had both tried to act as if nothing was the matter. His mother and Sif had not been fooled, but allowed them their privacy.

His father's eye on them would have been an unwelcome addition. 

He turned to his mother. Her ever watchful eyes rested heavily on him, but unlike with his father’s gaze, the weight in them wasn't unwelcome. 

She extended her arm. "I see Sif is escorting Jane tonight; I wonder if my son will do me the honour of the same."

Thor immediately presented her his arm, smiling. "The honour is always mine, Mother."

His mother smiled and looped her arm through his. They made their way out of Fensalir. She turned him towards the gardens and Thor let the familiar smells comfort him. There were few places lately he ever felt truly comfortable, where the rumbling in his soul quieted and settled. His mother's gardens was one of them. The lake he used to frequent with Loki and their friends was another, and Jane's roof, of all places also sprung to mind. Jane’s image lingered even as the others dimmed.

In the gardens, he let his mother guide him. Maní was high in the sky, the cosmos winking beyond it. He thought of Jane; how all she wished was to understand those stars and nebulae and beyond. 

"You’ve had a quarrel," his mother said, and Thor had the notion that even without her gifts she still would have known. He never truly understood the intricacies of his mother's Sight, but he knew she was often burden with the knowledge of many things that might come to pass and that she could never speak of. He could not imagine the strength she must have to keep her silence when her visions struck true.

"Words were exchanged," he hedged. 

Frigga smiled. "I imagine they were. You've always had a happy temperament save the few times your anger gets the better of you. Or worse yet, you wish to unleash it. I imagined Jane is much the same. Neither of you hide your displeasure well, either.”

Thor smirked at her description of Jane. "Her temper did catch me unprepared. I know she is not meek nor weak, but she can be quiet, and loses herself in work."

"Gentle of face, fierce of will."

"Quite," Thor agreed, pushed his tongue against the back of his teeth, stalling. "I spoke heedlessly, in truth. I knew she did not mean her words unkindly, just facts, as she sees them. I was overly sensitive to them."

"She spoke of Loki then?" At his surprised look, his mother softened. "You are not overly sensitive to many things, my son."

Thor flushed under his mother's gaze. She reached up and cupped his jaw. 

"She feels he or his actions might possibly be connected to what is happening in the realms, with the Bifrost, beyond the fact we broke it."

She regarded him carefully. Thor waited for her to speak. 

"Do you think she is right?"

Her words surprised him and he studied the look in her eyes. Worry and hope warred in them. 

"Yes," he answered truthfully. 

Frigga sighed. "We all knew Loki's actions would have far-reaching repercussions."

"I cannot believe he would align himself with Muspelheim, Mother, that I honestly believe."

Lips curving, she reached out and held his hand between hers and brought them to her lips. "That, I believe as well, darling." Thor felt like a child once more under his mother's hands; young, hopeful, and full of the belief she was not wrong. 

"Jane also suggested that his knowledge might be helpful to her. That what he saw when travelling Yggdrasil could hold answers to the state of things."

His mother's eyes changed. Thor could not read them. "Do you believe her?"

"Jane is brilliant."

She tutted at him. "That is not what I asked."

Thor looked towards the skies and past them to the cosmos. "I do not know. I believe she might be right, that Loki’s experiences have affected the Nine Realms and that he might hold answers he is not sharing, but I also fear for her, mother. Loki has spoken unkindly towards her.”

“Is that your only reason?”

“She is most clever and every day she works tirelessly to understand our ways further, connecting them and expanding them into her own. I fear her own journey here through the damaged Bifrost has affected her as well, but she does not see it."

"Thor, my son…"

"I could not bear to lose her again, Mother. Not now that I know my feelings."

He felt his mother's cool hands cup his face and turn his head to her. In her eyes he saw all he was feeling reflected back at him and it made his heart stick in his throat. 

She smiled. "You have always loved fully, Thor, but never so deeply. You should trust in her, and you should trust in yourself."

She brought his forehead down to press a kiss to it. Thor closed his eyes as she did, feeling blessed.

 

\- 

 

The next morning, Thor walked towards Loki's prison. His steps were slow, almost halting, but his mind was racing. He was not sure what he would tell Loki, or what he wanted Loki's response to be. 

_Maybe I'll go down there and visit her myself_.

There had only been anger and, Thor feared, true hatred wrapped in those words. Now Jane wished to converse with his brother, to ask him of his trips across Yggdrasil, and Thor suspected, the Tesseract. He knew Jane had an interest in it, she had mentioned it in passing, and that was another worrisome thought. He had seen what the cube had touched and brought out in his brother; he did not want to think of it twisting itself in Jane's mind. 

He should have told Jane of Loki's threat, but he had not wanted to worry her unduly. Now he believed he had made a mistake. 

High archways rose before him, sentries on either side. Thor nodded to them as they let him pass and made his way down. He was rarely comfortable walking down these pathways. Loki waited for him at the end and never welcoming. 

Today, nothing changed. His brother did not look at him as Thor approached. He sat, and in his hand he held a tome, thick, full of yellowing paper. 

Thor wanted to move closer to speak, but the barrier that held Loki would not let them. The brothers faced each other silently for several minutes. Thor could not begin to guess where his brother’s thoughts were centred but he was thinking about his words and how he could get Loki to speak to him; the magic that bound his brother was a complicated thing and while he was held in this place Loki he could not — would not — speak unless his lips spoke untwisted truths.

The book snapped shut.

Loki looked bored. 

The silence between them stretched. 

Loki moved to open his book again and Thor cleared his throat. Loki let his hands drop; the book remained closed. 

"Jane…"

Loki grabbed for the book again and opened it. 

Thor sighed, knowing he had misstepped. He licked his lips and started again. "Asgard was attacked. You must have gleaned something had happened as the whole realm near shook off its axis. It was Muspelheim. They burnt the Vingard near to the ground." 

Loki's book remained opened, but his eyes were on Thor again. 

"They came without warning, Heimdall did not see them, and we cannot retaliate. Father is tense, Mother is worried, and I am both. It is also until… recently." Thor swallowed, avoiding saying Jane's name again, and stepped closer to the edge of barrier that kept Loki separate. "We believed that with the Bifrost broken the other realms were as lost to us as we are to them, but twice now the opposite has been proven. And even with Observatory now finished it will not open as before."

Loki still said nothing. 

Thor sighed. 

"We— I," Thor shook his head trying to find the right words to get Loki to respond to him, but Loki's gaze was cold, calculating and too similar to how Loki looked at him on Midgard. Thor never liked feeling unsure of his brother and now the feeling was all uncomfortably commonplace. 

"You are the only other person known who has been able to travel across Yggdrasil without the aide of the Bifrost." Saliva grew thick in his mouth as he regarded his brother. Loki's brows rose challengingly. Thor bit back the growl he could feel growing in his chest. He also never liked when Loki would present himself smarter and cleverer than Thor and make him look foolish. 

Loki had called himself a dark shadow to Thor's light, but Thor had always thought Loki so bright, much brighter than Thor, if more prickly. Still, the look in Loki's eyes reminded him of all the times that Loki would lord his clever mind in games or in front of their parent and he did not like it. 

That Loki knew something that would help them— 

That he was willing withholding it out of spite— 

Suddenly Thor felt very annoyed and tired and did not wish to watch his words any longer.

"Jane believes you may hold the answers." Loki's mouth turned nastily. Thor found he was no longer in an accommodating mood. "I am inclined to believe her, even if Father won't. Not that he pays her much mind. He even blamed her for Muspelheim attack, which is preposterous, but he has not warmed to her. I believe this is the only time he and you have ever agreed on any one subject." He saw Loki straighten as if struck. Something curling too close to both guilt and satisfaction swirled in Thor, but he was tired of Loki’s constant dismissal of him. "She, however, believes you may have knowledge on why the Bifrost still does not function as before and that you can help fix it."

At that Loki raised his eyebrow, curious and shocked, but Thor thought he saw a gleam in his brother's eyes. It was perturbing, but also familiar. It was the familiarity that pushed him forward and he answered the unasked question. 

"She would have me speak to you about the matter, and though she knows of your actions she doesn’t know of your previous words. I would not have her worry about her safety while here."

Loki's lips curled minutely. Thor had the urge to break across barrier and shake his brother. "I, however, remember them vividly and would not have you near her." He stood. "I shall tell her you were unwilling to help."

Thor was two steps from the doors when a voice he had not heard in months curled smoothly around the air. 

"Now, I wouldn't say that."

Thor stood stock still at Loki's first words to him since he had entered his prison. He turned. Loki remained seated, his book opened, fingers brushing the pages. 

"You may tell your human I will speak to her." Loki eyes gleamed still, sharp, familiar, the burn of madness and anger the Tesseract had highlighted in them gone, but there was still something there, under the surface. Something that had cold shivers running down Thor's back. He wondered if he had made a mistake trying to save Loki at all. 

"You will not harm her, Loki," he said, voice near a growl. "And the moment you appear to try you will cease to take breath."

Loki smiled. He said nothing, only nodded. This only served to worry Thor more. 

"Very well, I will tell her you have agreed to speak with her." This time when Thor turned to leave he did not look back and quickened his steps, his need to see Jane suddenly very great. He also did not want to look at Loki's face one more second; he could already hear the twist in his lips at his muttered parting words. 

"I look forward to it."

Thor, however, did not.

 

 

_.bridge seeker_

 

For the first time Jane awoke on Asgard feeling overtired and achey. Confrontation was one of her least favourite things and her heart still felt heavy over the argument with Thor.

Sitting up in bed, she brought her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. She should go and find Thor. She should; she knew that. Throwing off the covers, she went to her wardrobe and frowned as she looked for her jeans. She doubted that Fulla had thrown them away, and she had a feeling that as uncommon as they were Frigga wouldn't have had them destroyed, but she couldn't find them and hated that her first instinct was to go and find Thor to ask him to help her find them. Annoyed at herself, she fished out what she could call the simplest dress.

Pulling it on, wrapping her hair up in a half hearted ponytail, she rifled through her notes, picked up her notebook and papers and stalked out of her rooms. The guards by them blinked at her, but said nothing as she moved down the halls. Fulla, for once since her arrival, was nowhere to be seen.

Seeing connections because she was blocked…

Well, maybe if Asgard had physics terms she could understand maybe she wouldn't be so blocked. Maybe if it didn't feel like half the time the scholars in the library were just humouring the _mortal_ she could get some real traction. 

She built a gate for interstellar travel. She built a Bridge! One that was currently back on Earth, dormant under Tony and Bruce's hand, but she _built_ it. She made it all the way to Asgard and what she had seen as she travelled… Sometimes she still wondered.

What _had_ she seen? 

She hadn't told Thor all the details of what she experienced because she hadn't really understood them herself and most of the memories came in dreams that she didn't understand. There had been so much light. It had swirled around, in her, everywhere. It had been an unsteady and strange connection, and--

She should talk to him, she _should_ …

Jane turned the corner and narrowly missed colliding with Sif.

Sif blinked. 

Jane blinked back. 

Sif got her bearings back first. "Jane! How good to see you so early in the morning!"

Early? She thought she was always up early. Quickly going over what she knew of Thor's schedule she went through it in relation to hers. Thor always had early morning training sessions and joined her after them when she had breakfast, where he always ate more than her and sometimes Sif would join them. It was never their first meal.

Looking at Sif, Jane noticed she was in the armour Jane was used to seeing her in, but her hair was not damp like it usually was in the mornings.

It clicked. She was up at least a few hours earlier than normal, but Asgard's sun shone so bright she hadn't noticed. That at least explained Fulla's absence. 

And Sif's brow furrowed slightly, Jane realised she had been quiet for a second too long.

Clearing her throat, she smiled. "Oh, yeah, I couldn't sleep and thought I'd get an early start on my research. Are you just heading down to the training area?"

Sif nodded, but she still looked at Jane with some concern. "Yes. I had thought that perhaps you would be joining us. Thor does try to prove his mettle even harder when you grace us with your attentions. It is great entertainment for the rest of us."

Part of Jane's heart fluttered at the words and how easily they were said, but another, and at the moment, stronger part of her still felt the ache of hurt about the argument. She could go with Sif to the training area and just wait, sit and work quietly, just like she'd been doing since she arrived; the meek human in the corner of the bright gods. 

Her frown came unbidden and she couldn't hide it before Sif noticed. 

"Maybe later, Sif." Jane moved towards the libraries. For a second Jane thought that would be all but then Sif's hand touched her elbow, stopping her.

"Jane, is something the matter? You look troubled."

Jane licked her lips, and looked away from Sif's gaze, wondering if she should share what she was feeling with Sif. It wasn't that she didn't trust her, but. Sif was Thor's friend, _his best friend_ , and the knowledge that Jane's best friend was billions of miles away was a sudden punch in the gut that made her feel all the more lonely. 

"Jane?" Sif stepped closer. Her hands fluttered at her side as if unsure what to do for a second then they covered Jane's shoulders. She bent her head just enough that it forced Jane to look up from her lashes at the taller woman. Sif's face was gentle, open. "I… You can speak to me and whatever you will say will be held in the strictest confidence. You have my word."

Jane nodded, but said nothing. 

Sif's lips seemed to thin, sadly. Somehow the small change in expression reminded Jane of Darcy.

"I had a fight with Thor." The words rushed out of her in one breath. Sif's brows rose in surprise and she blew out a small breath, lips twisting into neither a smile nor a frown, but something firmly in the middle of both.

"He can be a great stubborn boar when it suits him, can he not?" she said, wrapping an arm around Jane's shoulder. 

"Yes! No… I… we both got mad and touchy and then I was stomping out, but he was wrong!" Jane choked out in a string of words that felt too close to sobs, and ones of relief at that. "He's being completely unreasonable! And we were supposed to go out to the Bifrost today. I wanted to head over there myself, but I don't know how in the hell I'm supposed to ride with this on!" Jane scowled at her skirts.

Sif laughed and pulled Jane closer. "He is male. Reason, I've learned, does not to live well in the gender."

Jane giggled. 

Sif grinned. "Come. We shall find you some riding leathers and _we_ will ride out to the Bifrost together and spend the day away from the palace and the stubborn princes that inhabit it."

"Wait, your training session."

Sif shrugged. "It seems that Thor and the Warriors Three will have to beat themselves into the ground today."

"Thank you, Sif," Jane murmured, feeling a little lighter than she had when she woke up. Since her arrival to Asgard she'd felt welcomed and accommodated by several people. Thor, his mother, Sif, Fulla, the Warriors Three. They've been good allies in helping her pursue her research in Asgard’s large and watchful halls, and always friendly enough, but it was not until that moment she felt she had not only an ally in Sif, but that maybe she was gaining a real friend, too.

 

-

 

The Observatory looked good, Jane thought, as she approached on her mare, Sif at her side. It looked like it should work; she sighed. There had to be a reason it did not. All of its architects looked at it and deemed it complete, deemed it ready. But the connection would not hold; it barely took.

Jane frowned.

Under her the pathway shimmered and Jane couldn't help but study the way it reacted to the horses' hooves. The light frequency that the crystal resonated at echoed every moment of impact. The fact that the light seemed to be held within the crystal itself was a feat and she wondered about the composition of the crystal. 

As they slowed to a stop, Jane pulled lightly on her horse's reins — thank you Mom and Dad, for all those summers at Camp Chattanooga — and dismounted just after Sif. Jane smiled as the touch of both their feet resonated in burst of colours. 

Under the borrowed riding top, her necklace seemed to pulse against her skin. Jane brought up her hand to it.

She was extremely grateful to Sif for the clothes. Riding leathers from Sif's younger and shorter days were more comfortable than she expected. Sif had also given her a small satchel that was now filled with her notebook and papers. Questing attire, Sif had called it. Jane felt more comfortable in it than in all the dresses she'd been gifted; a thought that rested guiltily in her because she did appreciate the obvious effort that Frigga was making for her.

She and Sif walked up to Heimdall who stood facing them. He bowed his head. 

"Lady Jane, Sister, what brings you out today?"

Jane blinked, eyes sliding to Sif, but Sif just stood stick straight, cheek twitching. Heimdall's handsome face was unreadable. 

"The Lady Jane wishes to study further than the Observatory and who better than for her to speak to than you, Brother."

Heimdall's eyes went to Jane.

She smiled and dug through the bag for her notebook, pulling it out and holding it front of her like a talisman. "I have a couple question and some new theories on why we aren’t connecting. I would appreciate your input." Behind Heimdall. space stretched out and Jane's heart clenched. Somewhere in those stars Earth still stood, waiting for her like Asgard once had. Her eyes went back to Heimdall's and she felt something almost akin to sympathy in them. Maybe it was understanding. "And if you could please update me on how things are on Earth?"

The sword in Heimdall's hands shifted and he turned towards the Observatory and the edge of Bridge. "Come, Jane Foster, we have much to discuss."

Jane didn't need to be told twice and moved to his side. Sif was only a step or two behind her. 

"Thank you so much! First, I'd like to know how everyone is on Earth? Have they gotten further in fixing my machine? But I'm also wondering what exactly does the difference of having an Observatory make in calling up the Bifrost. Theoretically, if your sword is the conduit, you should be able to pull the energy forward yourself, but you haven't been able to make a stable connection, so presumably a component is missing? Part of what harnesses the energy here has to be funnelled through the Observatory, right? Or am I just not understanding the science—magic correctly?"

Jane couldn't be sure, but she was pretty sure she saw Heimdall's cheek twitch.

"You're understanding is well enough, Lady Jane, and I will answer any questions you have, but first, Midgard?" Heimdall stopped and the grip on his sword shifted. 

Jane nodded, thanking him again as she watched Heimdall peer into the edges of space and she couldn't help wonder what magic — because there was _no other_ way to explain Heimdall, in Jane's mind — had made the sinews of Heimdall's body as his eyes dilated slighted and he looked across the universe to Earth.

In his silence, Sif shifted at Jane's side. Jane gave a small sidelong glance to her. Sif was made of the same magic, in part at any rate. Jane bit her lip to hold in the questions that were suddenly swirling in her mind— 

"The inhabitants of Stark Tower fare well. They are managing well enough after the events we have spoken off.” Jane nodded, relieved. There was always a part of her that constantly worried about everyone on Earth, especially in the last couple of days. 

Heimdall continued. “They still look for a way to reopen the connection between our worlds to find you. "

Worrying her lips, Jane asked, "How is that going?"

Heimdall's eyes slid to her and Jane tensed. It wasn't the first time she'd asked the question and each time the answer baffled her. Today was no different.

"They have managed to rebuild your machine, but they are unable to restart the connection. Much like what occurred here, they begin but the process does not complete. The energy flares out and returns back to its source."

Jane nodded, yep, the same answer. Which… was worrisome. Theoretically the Bridge should open. It opened for her, it brought her here. The Foster Theory was sound, proven in fact, considering where she was, so if everything was the same then Tony and Bruce shouldn't have trouble reopening the door to Asgard. And yet each try since her arrival failed. Save for her, all the other variables should be the same. She had no idea why it wasn't working. Why it worked once when even the Bifrost couldn’t connect. She wished she could be back there to figure it out, but first…

"Thank you, Heimdall," Jane said. "Can I… I mean…"

"Yes?"

Jane licked her lips. "When they try to open the Bridge do you see something different from when I came? Has something changed?"

"I am not familiar with your… science," he said, and Jane had to smile at his word usage. Heimdall was very accommodating of her less "magical" Earth terms. "But I see no difference in their methods, nor do they, save one."

"Oh?"

"One might say the only difference is you, Jane Foster." Heimdall did not look away from the edges of space but Jane had a feeling he wasn't looking at Earth anymore. 

"Me?"

Heimdall turned, sword shifting in his hands, and he met her eyes. It was strangely humbling to Jane. His eyes saw space and time in a way she could only imagine and now they were intent and… almost soft on her. "Sometimes it is the wielder of the knowledge and how they apply it more than the knowledge itself that makes the difference, Jane Foster."

Jane blinked, trying to understand what Heimdall was saying. She could barely wrap her head around the implications. "Are you saying that the Bridge opened _because I wanted to open it_? Specifically? That's…" It made no sense, she wanted to say. Didn't. "Can't there be something affecting the Bridge that, no offence, you can't see?"

Heimdall's face didn't change but Jane thought she felt amusement from him. 

"The ways of Yggdrasil are forever a mystery waiting for us to puzzle them out."

And… that wasn't quite an answer, at all, but Heimdall said nothing else.

Jane was baffled. The idea that the wormhole system — that World _Tree_ — opened for her… it made no sense. She took a good amount of Asgard's magic in hand because it was impossible not to when she was surrounded by it as she was, and while she could rationalise the World Tree system as just a colourful descriptor for how Asgard viewed the Nine Realms, it was a whole other thing to think it sentient—alive— _allowing_ her through—

No, there had to be another factor they were missing. Something had happened when she came through. Something that Tony and Bruce weren’t seeing back on Earth. She was sure of it. 

Clearing her throat, she looked over her shoulder at Sif, but her face was unreadable as Heimdall's; siblings indeed. "Well, that's an interesting theory, but if we could talk about how exactly you call the Bifrost forth if the Observatory was fully functional I think that could really help me understand why it's different now and maybe why others can come here without it."

"As you wish. Ask your questions, Lady Jane."

She smiled, and opened her notebook. "Okay, so when you used to call the energy forth what had to happen? And how is it different now?" 

As Heimdall began answering her questions and she scribbled in her notebook, Jane pushed the new questions that'd been sparked about her arrival to the back of her mind. One hypothesis at a time, she reminded herself. It helped that she wasn't sure the questions she had would lead to the answers she wanted.

 

 

_.bridging gaps_

 

After his conversation with Loki, Thor went to find Jane. He did not like having their argument still hanging heavily in his mind but when he reached her room he was told she was gone. There was brief moment of panic. Fulla then continued and informed him of Jane's excursion to the Bifrost with Sif. 

He considered riding out himself and meeting up with them, but decided not to. With Sif at the Bifrost, the morning’s training session would need to be handled and by the time he got there Volstagg had taken command. Thor smiled in thanks as he walked forward. Not five minutes into it he was glad of his decision. His talk with Loki had left him tenser than he had thought. The burn and routine of the training session helped clear his mind. 

He would need to tell Jane of Loki's decision to speak to her. More importantly he would need to speak to his father and mother about what this would mean for Loki's imprisonment.

-

He was waiting near the stables, idly spinning Mjölnir in his hand, when he heard the horses. Mjölnir’s leather handle brushed his finger and Thor gripped it, halting the arc the hammer had been falling in. Looking up, he smiled. While he had already seen glimpses of their camaraderie, it was nice to see Jane and Sif enjoying each other's company. They were so wildly different he had had the small fear that they would not get along, something he knew would have made things awkward. But they were riding back, keeping pace with each other, and from the looks of it talking and laughing companionably. 

They stop short when they caught sight of him. 

Jane licked her lips and the look in her eyes told him she had not forgotten their last words to each other. Sif looked between them and raised her brows at him, chin jerking towards Jane. 

He cleared his throat, hooking Mjölnir to his side. "Jane, Sif, welcome back. I trust your trip to the Bifrost fared well." Stepping forward, his hands automatically rose to extend a hand to Jane, but not knowing if the gesture would be welcome he rested his hand on the bridle of her mare instead . 

Jane's eyes flitted over him, curious and unsure. "Yeah, it did. Did you want something?" Her words came out sharper than he was used to from her and it appeared that she was aware of it too as he watched her face twist slightly. “I’m so--”

Thor cut her off before she could apologise.

"I was hoping if I could steal a moment of your time before you returned to your work." His fingers tightened on the horse's bridle; it jerked forward a step. 

On their other side, Sif said, "I will leave you two to your conversation. Very well, Jane?"

Thor watched as Jane and Sif exchanged a look he could not decipher readily before Jane nodded and Sif nudge her horse forward. Over her shoulder she called out, "I shall see you both at supper!"

Thor bit back a smile at Sif's unspoken meaning. He looked up at Jane. Behind her, the sun shone brightly, casting her face mostly in shadow but her eyes were clear and yes, they did need to talk. However, he did not think he wanted to do it here. 

"Jane, will you wait while I saddle my horse?"

Her face worked, her teeth sunk into her bottom lip. "I thought you wanted to talk."

Thor let go of her horse and reached out to brush her knee with his fingers, noticing for the first time that she was not wearing one of the dresses she'd been given upon her arrival, but riding trousers and shirt. He noticed she also wore a satchel and her hair fell loose around her face. He wanted to touch her cheeks.

"Yes, but perhaps not here," he said, looking up at her. "There is a place I've been wanting to show you."

Her eyes lit up with curiosity. "Okay, sure. I'll wait."

‑

They could have gone on the skifs but Thor had always liked the ride up to the lake. Jane rode beside him, more silent than usual, letting him lead them outside the confines of the city and up into Járnviðr and further onto the mountain path. 

He had wanted to show it to her under better circumstances. As it was they were not the worst. She was speaking to him at the very least, even if was mostly questions about their journey and where they were heading. It seemed, once again, that they were operating under the same silent agreement that they would speak properly once they reached their destination. 

It was a slow ride. 

He smiled at her riding attire, how the leathers covered her legs and she rode Léttfeti, the youngest and swiftest mare in the stables, more confidently than he expected. When he asked her how she spent her morning, she told him of her ride down with Sif to the Bifrost and the theories she shared with Heimdall. And those of Heimdall’s of her arrival. Thor was in private agreement with Heimdall even though he had no proof it. It meant something Jane crossed the realms when no other mortal had been able to. In his bones he was sure of it. He did not know why though. Maybe his answers laid parallel with Jane’s own. 

Most of all he was grateful she was still easy with him, even if her smiles weren’t as quick to come as before, and he felt the sting of that.

He slowed Gullfaxi down as they continued up the trail, happily listening to her, until he reached out to cover Léttfeti’s reins. The action caused him to cover Jane’s hands in the process and felt a flash of happiness when she did not pull away. 

“Whoa,” he said, pulling on both set of reins and commanded the horses to stop. Jane straightened, her hands tight over the reins, one hand still warm and soft under his and turned to him. “What is this place?”

Thor dismounted and did not even bother to tie either horse to a tree. Neither would leave him or Jane; they were exceptionally trained. He extended his hand to Jane to help her down. She took it and hopped down. Her body remained close to his and he wanted to bend and kiss her. He did not, and took half a step back.

“This is not it. Where we are going is just beyond this clearing, but we’ll leave the horses here. You will see,” he explained, keeping his hand in hers as she took in the clearing and brushed her hair out of her eyes.

He echoed her movements even though there was no need. It was a thin excuse to touch her face. She looked up at him, her eyes soft, her mouth a thin line. 

“I am sorry, Jane. For my ill chosen words in regard to your abilities.” He rushed forward before she could speak.

She sighed. “I’m sorry too. I was a bit insensitive to your feelings, especially about your bro--about Loki.”

“We both touched on sensitive subjects,” he agreed. He stepped forward. “I am still sorry I hurt your feelings. I would never want to cause you pain.”

“Me too,” Jane said, tilting her head up to him. “I don’t want to hurt you either. I still don’t think I’m completely wrong, though. Crap, that’s shitty of me to say, but still true. I am sorry that how I said it hurt you.”

He smiled, lifting her hand to his lips. “Does this mean our first fight is now behind us?”

Her surprised laughter seemed agreement enough, but she also shook her head. “Sure, but I’m still… I can admit I might be wrong about what’s happening with the Bifrost, but I don’t _feel_ I’m wrong. I know that probably doesn’t make sense, but I think there’s something else happening beside the simple fact that the Bifrost is broken and not connecting. I think something is happening within… everything.”

“I think you might be right as well, Jane,” Thor admitted. There was something more happening within the Nine than Asgard’s broken Bifrost. His father worried over war, and of the consequences of Loki’s actions, not just from Midgard but from Jotunheim. Then there was Muspelheim attack. Yes, he feared Jane was right. 

“And I’m sorry I reacted with ire at your words. Loki’s actions have had far reaching consequences and they affected more things than we can see. You were right in that.”

Jane nodded, keeping her hands in his as he lead them forward. “Yeah, but it still has to be hard to consider him as the source of all of… this,” she said, waving her other hand in the air.

“He was not the only source.”

“Thor…”

He stopped and turned to her, the heaviness in chest almost crushing. “I… If we look at these events and see what truly began all this then I am at as much fault as Loki. It was my actions that took us to Jotunheim. We didn’t have to go, I led everyone--”

“Hey,” Jane said, reaching up and catching his face in her hands. She held him steady and forced his face down to look into her eyes. “Yes, you took them there and yes, from what I’ve picked up you did something stupid, and it’s really good you’re taking responsibility for it. That you can see how wrong you were and want to make it right, which well, isn’t...” she paused and bit her lips. Thor couldn’t help but smile a bit. He had a feeling what words she was holding back.

“Loki does not seem remorseful at all.”

Jane nodded in agreement. “Granted, I don’t know how true that is. I haven’t seen him or really know him, but you tried to fix what you broke. He hasn’t.”

“It is hard to accept that. It is hard to see my brother and see a stranger who seems not care.”

“I’m sorry about that, Thor. Really.”

He leaned down and touched their foreheads together. As she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, he sighed, and felt some of the weight on his shoulders lessen. He felt he could sink into her body and she would be able to hold him as steady and strongly as he held hers. 

“And I am sorry that I belittled your work in my anger.” He wrapped his arms around her and held tight. He straightened and kept her close; he could feel the stretch of her body as she moved on her tip toes and kissed her forehead. “I think you’ve the most brilliant mind and soul in all the realms.”

Jane’s smile made her dark eyes sparkle like the cosmos. “You’re really good at the apology thing. I love you, you know… Oh, um.” Her eyes grew wide in shock as if the words had slipped for her lips like prisoners escaping their jail.

She flushed, shy and embarrassed, as if worried. 

He could not let such a look remain. 

He leaned down and covered her lips.

He swallowed her words and her small sound of surprise like they were water and he was dying of thirst. He felt when her hands stopped fluttering at her side and covered his cheeks, holding his face to hers, deepening the kiss.

It was a deep kiss, heavy and sweet. He licked into Jane’s mouth, slow, purposeful. Felt her response immediately, pulling him closer, her tongue warm and wet against his. They stumbled as she lost her footing on her toes and he leaned them against a tree. The lake could wait, everything could wait for once. Jane loved him and he wanted her to know he loved her words. That he loved her too.

Pulling away, he pressed short, warm kisses to her lips and nose and held her face. 

“Jane.”

“You don’t have to say anything back, if you don’t,” she gasped and then let another sound of surprise out when he lifted her. Her legs went around his waist automatically. Her eyes were dark and her mouth red from his kisses.

“Jane Foster, I love you as well. I think I may have loved you from the moment we met.”

Jane laughed and shook her head. “You mean when I hit you with my car? Romantic.”

Thor smiled, “Yes, both times.”

“You’re a bad liar.”

“Then have this truth: I did not know my affection for you would have grown when we first met, but there was something in you that I valued greatly. And I value it now tenfold.”

She cuddled closer in his arms and kissed his lips as sweetly as ever. “God, you’re good. But yeah, I think you’re pretty great too.” 

He moved to kiss her again, setting her down carefully. “And now I want to share something I have loved since I was a boy and today it will be more special than it has ever been before.”

Jane grinned, reaching out to hold his hand, flushing as she always did when he kissed her palm. “Okay, then. Show me.”

It was only a few seconds walk as they moved through the trees until the foliage opened up to the lip of the lake. Sol shone down on it, making the water shimmer like jewels, and the mountains and waterfall at the other end encircled the lake like protective barriers.

“Oh, wow,” Jane said, stepping out in front of him, hand still in his. Sol caught the lighter strands of brown in her hair and the curve of her cheek, the sweep of her lashes. “This is beautiful.”

Thor could not agree more.

She turned back to him, eyes clear and bright. “Can we swim?!"

Thor laughed and rushed forward to grab her. The water was perfect as they slipped under, her mouth on his.


	8. 0.8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cue: SEXY TIMES.

_.kjæreste_

“You're lucky I’m naked,” Jane grumbled, wrapping Thor’s cape around her. He had pulled it from his armour and handed it to her as he bypassed their still wet clothes.

“I am.” Thor grinned. He did not have anything to wrap around him but to be honest he didn’t seem to mind reclining naked on a huge rock at the edge of the lake. It was a hell of a sight. 

Jane rolled her eyes. She stalked towards him and stepped over him as best she could using the cape as a giant towel and planted her feet by his hips. “That’s not what I meant,” she said, but she couldn’t argue with the sentiment. She was feeling pretty lucky right now too. There was a god stretched out under her.

Thor tugged on the edge of his cape, smiling up at her. 

Jane bit her lips and gathered up the edges of his cape so she could straddle him. Her thighs brushed his sides as she settled across his hips and leaned forward to kiss him. He pushed the edge of his cape away and ran his hands up her legs.

“Seriously, I hope Sif didn’t want those clothes back because I’m pretty sure the pants are ruined.”

“They'll dry just fine,” Thor said, this thumb rubbing mindless circles on her knee. He propped one arm behind his head. Jane felt him raise his knees and leaned back against them. Her godly recliner, she thought with a smile. “The material is hardy and adapts to the elements. Like my cape.”

Adjusting the cape around her chest she flicked his ridiculous abs. “Really? Cool!” 

She looked over to their clothes laid out on another rock to dry after they had stripped down in the lukewarm water. Around them the lake was just as quiet as it was when they arrived; the peacefulness of the area enveloping them. Jane sighed. It really was a bit of a hideaway. The forest that surrounded them looked tranquil. It was a different forest than Járnviðr, Thor mentioned, and Jane felt the difference. It was lighter, the air less thick with magical energy that pulsed through Asgard. 

The more time she spent with Thor in his home the more used to it she was, but the more aware of it she felt she became too. 

She inhaled the air -- fresher than Earth's, a little sharp, like it held a sliver of frost at its edges, but none of the cold -- and reached down to where Thor had a hand resting on his stomach. She twined their fingers. 

“I like this place,” said Jane, watching Thor as he watched her. Under her, he was quiet in a way she thought would surprise people.

He brought their joined hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “I’ve thought about showing you this place a for some time now.”

“Yeah?”

Thor nodded and tugged her down. Jane let herself be pulled and shifted so she was lying mostly on top of him, the cape working as a makeshift blanket over them. 

“I used to come here more when I was younger,” he said, kissing her hand once before letting it go and dragging a finger across her collarbone. Jane tried not to shiver. She failed. Thor smiled. 

She crossed her arms over his chest and rested her chin on them and waited.

“I discovered it with Loki when we were very young. Over the years, Sif joined us and then the Warriors Three.” Thor closed his eyes and sighed. “I can see now that Loki probably did not enjoy that much.”

“Even with Sif?” Jane questioned. During her time in Asgard she’d come to understand and learn a little about Loki’s relationship with others. Thor and Frigga spoke freely of him, for the most part, but also she’d picked up enough to know that Thor, Loki, and Sif pretty much had grown up together and that Sif did not like talking about Loki much anymore.

“No, not so much with Sif. Weeks had barely passed from the time we met Sif to when we brought her here. But the others. I do not think he much appreciated having to share this place with them. He had always deemed it ours, in a way.”

Jane nodded. “So, is that why you showed me? Someplace yours?”

Thor held her gaze as he cupped her face; his thumb stroked her cheek. Jane felt herself flush. 

“Yes,” he said and tugged her closer. His mouth was cool from the lake water and he tasted just as fresh. Jane felt like she was being dragged under again, and just like before she welcomed it. "There is building further up, on the other side of the lake. It has been empty for years. It is mine, however." 

"What? A summer house?" She teased. 

He brushed her hair away from her face. "One day I would like to show it to you."

She rested her forehead against his as they pulled away, looking into his eyes. She understood all too well the meaning behind his words. And knew she would one day very much like to see that house. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Jane snuggled in.

“Thank you. I'd love that.”

Thor kissed her softly. “They do not come up here, anymore, Sif and the Warriors Three.”

“Not even with you?”

“You are the first I’ve brought since Loki fell. Once I asked Sif if she wanted to ride up and she declined.”

Jane found she wasn’t surprised. The less she heard about Sif and Loki’s friendship before everything, the more she felt she understood. The silences in the words Sif did not say spoke rather loud. 

“Well then, I hope I made this trip worthwhile,” she teased, grinning. 

Thor smiled back, pulling her closer, the cape getting shifted around and dragged down their bodies. Jane didn’t even notice. She cupped Thor’s cheeks and leaned in to kiss him. He reached between them and Jane’s sigh turned into a groan as he stroked her. Jane ground herself against his fingers, curling her hands over his shoulder. 

They had already had sex (make up sex, she amended) in the lake in between the struggle of pulling off their soaked clothes and laughter, Thor holding her as if she weighed nothing. Jane wanted him again, and told him as much, and then blurted out what else she wanted.

“Mouth,” she gasped. “I missed your mouth.”

Silly notion. Their fight had only lasted a couple days, but Jane didn't care at the moment. She hated missing any part of Thor. She had missed him for too long already.

Under her, Thor licked his lips at her words. "I missed your taste, I missed going to sleep with you, I missed waking up with you pressed against me," he said and she could feel herself flush. Part of her didn't think she'd ever get used to how blunt he could be.

Sliding his hand up her legs, he cupped her thighs, his hands near spanning their width. She thought he would flip them over but instead he tugged her up and oh, okay-- Jane felt a rush of wetness between her legs as she wiggled up Thor’s body. Kneeling over his face, Jane bit her lips. She could feel his hot breath against her inner thighs as he spread her. His thumbs ran the length of her folds, gentle but sure. At the touch of his tongue against her clit, her thighs trembled. Jane locked her knees as best she could, but she didn't even need to worry. Thor held her steady. 

When he licked her, it was slow and steady. He took his time, the stroke of his fingers following his tongue. The tightness in her stomach built up easily, wonderfully. It was good, so good. Thor kissed her like they all the time in world and he was happy to spend it between her legs. Then he flattened his tongue against her, pulled her down against his wide open mouth, and sucked at her clit. The change in pace was so immediate, so intense, Jane lurched forward and slapped her hands flat on the rock, holding herself up as the gasp threatened to leave her breathless. Thor's chuckle vibrated against her clit. She hissed his name and curse. Her head hung down and she looked down. She could see him licking his way into her. Thor paused and tilted his head back just enough to catch her eye. 

His fingers slowed and slipped out of her. Jane opened her mouth to tell him not to stop when he winked and grabbed hold of her hips, bringing her hard and fast down to his mouth again.

"Thor!" she gasped so loud she was sure the leaves rustled with her shout.

Her hands curled ineffectually against rock as she rocked against Thor’s mouth until she couldn't even think and definite couldn’t count how many times she came.

God, indeed.

 

 

 

_.truths_

After they dressed and got ready to go back to the horses, Thor touched Jane’s elbow. They had talked about a great many things this afternoon but there was one more thing he needed to tell her. He had kept it from her long enough, and if she was committed to continuing this path to fix the Bifrost, she needed to know everything.

Jane turned. Several still damp strands of her hair stuck to her temple and neck. Thor brushed them behind her ear.

“Jane, there’s another reason why I did not come to you after the battle with the Chitauri. It was as I've explained, I did not lie, and I needed to get Loki back, but there's something I did not tell you.”

“Okay?” Her brow furrowed and he could see she was trying to figure out what else could have kept him from seeing her. 

“I did not want Loki near you.”

She blinked, made a small sound, and blinked again. “Oh.” She tilted her face up and reached up to cover the wrist of the hand still cupping her face. “I’m guessing you had a reason for that.”

He wished he didn’t, but he would not lie to her. Not about this. “The day we broke the Bifrost he threatened your life and I could not take the chance. Not only for his actions and Asgard did I need to removed Loki from Midgard, but for you. I could not risk him escaping again and making his way to you. When Coulson mentioned he had already moved you from the town I was glad, but in truth, had Loki wanted to reach you--”

“Yeah, he would have. I don’t think the SHIELD facility I was in would have been able to stand up to him.” She spoke the words almost with a detached tone. Thor watched her face for any inkling of fear. He saw only a strange acceptance. Her eyes bright, but not in worry. She leaned into him, those clever eyes meeting his. “I’m guessing that’s the other reason you didn’t want me asking for his help.”

Thor nodded and did not temper his tone. “I have warned him already that should he touch you in any harmful manner, it would be his last living action, but you should know all the facts before we continue.”

She smiled softly. “I like facts.” She lifted herself on her tip toes and kissed his chin. “You won’t let him hurt me.” She said the words with the same certainty she spoke of her science.

“You do,” he said, letting her love and trust in him calm his worry. He tugged her closer, pulling her up for a soft kiss. “And no, I won’t. I promise you, Jane. You will be safe.”

“I know.”

 

-

 

When they returned to the palace it was past dinner and Thor took them to his rooms where he called for food and for Fulla to bring Jane a change of clothes. He wanted to move Jane into his rooms, but even as their courting had taken a more intimate turn, he knew that for many reasons Jane should keep her own rooms. Too many eyes were on them and their actions. Only married or bound couples shared quarters within the palace walls. As prince he couldn’t risk how Asgard viewed Jane and so they kept separate rooms. 

After they ate, he followed Jane to his bath and watched as she stripped and slipped into the water. Normally he would use the small water basin when he was alone or in a hurry, but with Jane he did not like missing a chance to be alone with her. 

Plus, Jane seemed to enjoy Asgard's baths. 

His bath was more like sunken pool, according to Jane. The water flowed in from a flat spout once called for. Jane said it was like a hot tub met a Turkish bath then explained the difference between the two. 

It was not the first time they bathed together. He had pressed her against the water warmed edge of the bath after their trip to the Vingard. He had wanted to wash and kiss the smell of fire away from her. He still dreamed about her covered with it, leaves burning under her hands. She had come gasping against his fingers, her mouth wet against his, and she had smelled of the scented water when they were done.

After the lake, she was still too sensitive, and too tired. His stamina far out lasted hers, as they learned. At any rate, his lust was stated, and he was content that they were in the same place. It was all he needed. He stripped and followed her into the water, tugging her to his chest as he leaned against the lip of the tub and took the cleaning sponge from her. 

“I love you, Jane,” he whispered against her hair. She turned and rested her chin against his chest. 

“I love you, too.” She kissed where her mouth reached. “Tomorrow is going to be fine.” 

Thor agreed with her, leaning down to kiss her. 

Tomorrow would be fine. Jane would be fine. 

Tomorrow, when they spoke to Loki.

 

 

 

_.shadow_

It was time to see the seeker again. 

He never had expected to see her once they had left Midgard, but oh how opportunity presented itself. That she was the one who sought him out was unexpected, but more so, it was interesting. That Thor was the one to champion her request had been most surprising. 

But.

He’d been missing having a bit of fun.

 

 

 

_.the one that sees_

Worry grew. It grew and grew and grew like a tree. Worry grew, but there had to be hope. There had to be hope. Hope did not grow like a tree, it rooted itself into the ground. It was what the tree grew from. It was the air the tree breathed. 

There always had to be hope. Maybe that’s what they would bring.

A tree could grow, but could it flower?

And what would come of it when it did?

(Light and fire warred.

What would win?)


	9. 0.9

_.between (shadow and light)_

 

Thor held her hand as he led her down to Loki's prison. Sif came with, keeping pace, but there was a slowness to her gait that felt unnatural. It was almost as if she was struggling not to turn back with every other step. Both Jane and Thor had told her she didn't have to come, but Sif insisted. Said she did not trust Loki with either Thor and Jane. Jane wondered if Sif knew about Loki's threat to Jane. 

When they reached Loki's cell, Thor led Jane through. Sif did not move past the door. Jane looked over shoulder, questioning. 

Sif met her gaze with a smile. "I would not be helpful in there. Go on, Jane."

Jane nodded and swallowed. 

She was nervous. For all of the stories of Loki — brother, world-killer, Silvertongue, (wolf father, snake father), traitor, Ant King — she heard and read (where had she heard the other ones?) she had never met the man. She would not call him a legend, though he had many. 

Clutching Thor's hand, Jane gripped her notebook with her other hand and squared her shoulders. Maybe nothing would come of this. 

Maybe.

 

 

_.clever and cunning_

Loki looked up when they entered and then did something that shocked Thor. He stood. He stood and bowed. 

"If it isn't the prince and his… human consort," he said, low, smooth. A tone Thor had heard in court too often growing up. 

"I'm not his consort."

"Take care, Loki."

Both he and Jane snapped back at once, which was when Thor realised their mistake as Loki grinned, his eyes flicking to Jane. 

"Oh dear, did I strike a nerve?"

Thor wanted to push his hand past the magical barrier and wring his brother's neck. That he could not was the only reason he didn't. Next to him Jane stood tall, chin tilted up, and she did not look away from Loki.

"If you weren't already locked away I'd slap that smirk off of you."

The look on Loki's face was priceless. 

Thor covered his snort of laughter by biting his cheek and rested his hand at the small of Jane's back. She was fearless. 

"And what makes you think you'd ever get close enough, human?"

"That," Jane said, her jaw tight. "Human. You say it like your dad does. Like I'm below you, like I couldn't get close to you. Like it wasn't a bunch of humans who beat you in New York."

Thor stepped closer to Jane. The barrier between them and Loki was of the strongest magic, but there was dangerous edge in his brother's eyes. Coming here might have not been the best idea. Jane, as he had learned, fought hard when she felt someone diminishing her. 

"What makes you think your people have beat me at all?"

Thor watched as Jane smiled and Loki faltered. Oh, Jane was clever indeed. He had suspected as much for months, that Loki's campaign against Midgard had been a handy if deadly excuse to put himself back in Asgard's sights. That he managed to cause such havoc on Midgard, Jane's home, to Jane's family, was as much a taunt to Thor as it was a warning. 

"If you had just wanted to come home then I'm sure you could have just asked. Except, wait." Jane moved forward. "You knew you couldn't. Thor told me that you know ways through the Yggdrasil system, but you helped Thor break the Bifrost and you wanted— you wanted to make him hurt. Make your dad hurt. What better way than to show them up? You know, I think I get it now—"

Loki hissed, and he turned to glare at Thor. "I thought you came here for questions, not trite observations about things that have no bearing on anything." 

Thor thought it quite the opposite, but he knew they had to be careful with Loki, and Jane was already prodding too closely at issues that would make Loki lash out. 

"We do have questions," he interceded, catching Jane's eyes. She nodded.

"Will you ask them? Or will your human continue her little speech?"

Jane said, "I will. I-" Jane paused, her fingers tightening around her notebook. It seemed she was trying to steel herself for whatever came next. She flipped her book open to one of the first pages, that was written in several languages. She'd gone back and overlapped her own notes as she studied the Bifrost. Midgard's English and math, Asgard's runes and what looked to be elvish scrawl covered it. Thor slid his eyes to Jane. He tried not to worry, not to think it strange how quickly she had picked up the languages of the other Nine Realms, but he also dreamed of Jane on fire, her hands touching ash. 

She held her journal up to Loki to read. 

Loki's eyes sped across the pages quickly. His eyes darted to Jane even faster as he read on. 

"Turn the page," he hissed.

Jane did. Thor rubbed his thumb against the small of her back where Loki could not see it.

Loki read the pages even quicker this time. "Turn."

Jane did. 

Loki skimmed the page and said, "Send the book through. Thor knows how."

It was as if a livewire hit Jane and she tensed. "No," she said, low. "No. It has to stay with me." Her fingers curled tighter on the pages. Loki's eyes narrowed. 

"I would read it faster if it was with me."

Jane shook her head and pulled her book to her chest. "It stays with me." There was such conviction in her tone, but also an undercurrent of protectiveness and something else that made Thor uncomfortable. He looked from Jane's hands to Loki's eyes. 

"The journal stays with her."

Loki's jaw clenched and then: "Turn."

Jane did.

And so it continued until there were no more pages to read.

Once done, Loki looked away from Jane's journal to Thor.

"Well, well, Thor. It seems I miscalculated. I should have paid her a visit much sooner," said Loki, his voice cool and sharp. Thor wanted to reach between the barrier and grab Loki. Tell him he would never lay a hand on Jane. He wanted to take Jane's journal and lock it away. He wanted to feel like he hadn't just doomed Asgard.

-

As he and Jane stepped back into the hallway, he sighed. Sif was at the far end, but she didn't move closer. She looked at him and Jane, her brow furrowing, but stayed where she was for the moment. Next to him, Jane reached for his hand and interlocked their fingers. Her other hand gripped her journal tightly.

"Thor?"

"I don't think I'll ever trust him with you."

Jane nodded. "I know, I don't think I trust him with you either, but I think we need him."

Thor stroked his thumb over her wrist.

"He saw something in my work, something I'm not seeing yet." She let go of his hand and rubbed at her temples. "Maybe it's something I don't want to see."

"Jane.."

She swallowed and looked up at him, her lovely brown eyes filled with determination and something close to trepidation. "He's who we need to fix the bridge—the Bifrost connection, isn't he? You know, I'm not sure I want to be right anymore."

Thor ached with worry, he leaned forward, cupping Jane's cheeks, and kissed her forehead. "But I fear that you are, Jane."

She nodded and looked up at him, one hand reaching up to circle one of his wrists. "We can't trust him."

The truth of it burned at Thor; it hurt more than he thought it could. "We won't."

Together they turned and walked down to join Sif. She held their gaze and nodded when they explained what needed to be done.

 

 

 

_.interlude: mirrors_  
_several days ago, in fact_

 

Jane twisted her hands together, looking over her notes. She missed the lab. Between her notes and the books she'd borrowed from the palace's library, with more than a few dark looks that she wished were only in her imagination, her research into the bridge's instability was progressing. Not at the speed she had hoped for when she realised she was stranded on Asgard, but the Aesir's understanding of the universe, of interstellar and dimensional travel was beyond anything she'd seen in any book back home. Some of the math as she understood it literally left her breathless and sometimes she found herself wanting to call out to Tony or Bruce to show them what she was seeing just so they could confirm she wasn't imagining it. 

Still, she needed— the papers, notebooks, and tools gifted to her by Thor's mother were wonderful. Beautifully bound notebooks with weighted pages, bound together in supple leather, an array of the styluses they used for writing, which worked both dry and if she dipped it in the ink given to her. They were wonderful gifts, indispensable to her, especially when she learned how the other scholars worked their magic, writing glowing letters in the air or paper that flowed and sunk into where they directed it. She often thought of Tony's holo-desk and his sleek computers that worked similarly, but unlike this Aesir magic, allowed her to work within their parameters. 

Even weeks later, she sometimes still felt hopelessly lost when trying to understand their science, their magic, with her very human hands. She hated feeling that humanity was too constricting. 

Staring down at her work, she noticed her math had run almost onto the desk and it looked so small and flat in her notebook, twisting into her doodles of the Bifrost. 

She needed more space. She needed Tony's holo-desk, or a computer that would at least let her input her findings and save them. At the very least, she needed a wipe-board, but they didn't use them in Asgard. Their own holo system helped her, but still had inputs she wasn’t familiar with, slowing her down at times. It was frustrating and she felt annoyed at herself for needing to revert back to what were deemed slow and Midgardian ways of working.

Leaning back in her chair, Jane ran her hand through her hair, wincing as her lower back flared up with discomfort. Her braids that Fulla had worked on this morning tangled with her fingers and she picked at them, slowly pulling them out, shaking her hair out. The braids added soft waves to her hair that she studied in the room's large mirror. Since arriving in Asgard, she had not looked much like herself.

Her hair seemed shinier, her skin healthier — and was it because the idea of the place itself that made everything seem so bright and _more_ or was it actually something in the environment, the atmosphere, that affected its people? _The Realm Eternal_ , built from of beauty and power, where no human had ever lived. There was a lump in her throat that Jane forced down. — and the clothes were too much, beautiful and surprisingly practical at times, but Jane missed her jeans sometimes. She missed home.

The woman in the mirror was not one Jane easily recognised, but she could still see herself under the glow of Asgard that sometimes felt too heavy for her thin frame. Gathering her hair, she pulled it up into a ponytail, and flicked her fingers at her reflections. 

Her fingers clinked against the cool glass of the mirror. Jane took a pause. In the mirror her reflection titled her head, brown eyes brightening. A memory overtook her. 

_Pale pink lipstick held by small fingers writing_ 1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + 1/9 -… _on a cool, flat surface, because the lipstick looked liked her favourite crayon, but her mother painted her face with it. Jane had done the same and her lips matched her writing until her mother's voice, shrill and shocked, alongside her father's laughter stopped her. Her father had picked her up with a boisterous _'at least she's not writing on the walls'_ and her mother smiled, wiping the lipstick off Jane's face, fingers, and mirror._

Mirror, after all, was only glass with a reflective coating painted on the back. 

Another memory surfaced on the heels of that thought:

_Older fingers, the Sharpie in her hand writing down the equation that would give birth to her thesis on her too small apartment's bathroom mirror. Her toothbrush sat forgotten at the edge of the sink._

Jane smiled. Her reflection smiled back at her. 

She turned and rushed out the door, heading down the hall to where Thor’s private parlor. She had already passed two mirrors; Asgard was full of them. Asgard itself was almost a golden mirror, reflecting its shine onto itself.

Thor looked up as she entered and immediately stood. She was vaguely aware of Fulla trailing after her.

"Jane, is something wrong?" A slight tone worry coloured his voice.

She shook her head and then, ready to ask Thor, she stopped. The doors were still open behind her, Fulla waiting at the threshold, two guards next to her and beyond them the wide halls of the palace sharp and listening. Her request now felt foolish and worst of all childish; a mirror. Heat washed across her, starting at her chest and rising up her neck to where she was sure her cheeks were flushing brightly. 

Thor's eyes trailed over her face, gentle and warm, but she could see the quick tightening of his jaw. He stepped closer to her, taking her hand into his.

"No, nothing's wrong. Just…" she looked up at him, and pulled her smile back up, "had a little epiphany, but it seems silly now."

Thor bent closer to her, the hand at her elbow pulling her forward and turning them so her back was to the room and his to the hall. It was a small thing but it made Jane relax. She would rather have Sif and the Warrior's Three at her back than Asgard's whispering halls.

"Nothing you could ever think is silly, Jane," Thor said, making her smile. 

She poked at his vest. "What about the other day when I wanted to see how deep that pool was—"

Thor's other hand moved to cover the small of her back and Jane leaned into him. He grinned, quick. "Charming. Not silly at all."

"I looked like a drowned rat, because it was a lot deeper than you lead me to believe."

"You are much smaller than I," he said cheekily. 

"It wasn't funny," she huffed and pretended to push him away. She could hear Sif's soft chuckles and the doors of the room closing under Volstagg hands. Thor waited until the doors shut. 

"Now, Jane, what troubles you?" 

He didn't let go. She looked away, eyes trailing over the closed doors, hating how unsure she still felt in those halls, before meeting his gaze. 

"Nothing, really." Sucking on her bottom lip, she straightened her shoulders. Thor's hands relaxed on her, but didn't move away. It warmed her. Drumming her fingers on his vest, her nails clicked against the metal. "I need a mirror," she blurted out and laughed when Thor's eyes widened.

"A mirror?"

"You rethinking the silly comment now?"

He took one of her hands resting on his chest and brought it to his lips. "Never. A mirror you say?"

Jane shrugged, stepping out of the circle of his arms. "Do you remember the boards in my lab, or the ones Tony and Bruce used?"

"Ah, yes, you would write on them, but Stark had all these machines controlling his. He used them to gather information on the cube."

Jane nodded. "Yes, well, I don't have access to a computer and that's fine," she said quickly studying how's Thor's face worked at her words. "But I still need more than just notebooks and paper to work with. They're just—" Jane laughed, hands twisting in the air, her next words ironic for Asgard. "So small! You guys don't have the need for boards, the holographic system you use is familiar enough, and as much as I love it… And I do, half the time I’m studying it rather than using it. You guys can literally make magic in the air, which has to be a way of manipulating and concentrating the energy and light particles in the atmosphere, and that's never going to get old. I think might have to do cosmic energy reading of this place one day--" 

Jane cut herself off, because she knew she'd just give herself another headache if she kept going down this road. Asgard's magic was thick, its people full of it, and it was best she left it at that, for now.

Fighting her blush,, she looked at Thor and felt a warmth in her chest when she only saw bright blue eyes without an ounce of boredom and more than little affection and heat. She bit at her bottom lip and shifted in place when he grinned at her, a grin boarding on _dirt-ty_ , as Darcy would have said. 

Jane licked her lips. "What was I saying?"

Thor's grin only widened. "Mirrors."

"Right, yes!" Jane shook her head, and walked over to the large mirror in the room. "On Earth sometimes I used glass or clear wipe boards to work on my equations." She knocked her knuckles to the smooth glass of the mirror. "Glass."

"You want mirrors to write on?" Sif asked. 

Jane fought to keep her shoulders straight and tried not to feel nervous. An odd feeling since it was the first time she'd felt nervous around Sif. "Yes. I need a board. I need to be able to see the equations outside my head. Be able to change them at will, rework them. I need a board." 

There was a fear that her voice went a little desperate at the end, edgy and tired. A headache began coiling at the base of her neck, but Jane ignored it for now. 

Thor was already moving the mirror. "Volstagg, Fandral, assist me."

The surety of his of words staggered Jane. Her eyes flew to Sif, who was also moving forward, smiling. 

Jane stepped between the mirror and Thor. "Wait, Thor, you just can't take this mirror!"

He looked down at her, confused, but he stopped. "Of course I can. You need it."

Jane fought the urge to kiss him, and instead gently pushed him back. "Thank you, that's sweet, but we can find another mirror. An old mirror, one that is _not being used anymore_ and won't cause massive damage to your mother's walls." She looked behind her. Her back was nearly bare because of the dress and her ponytail was already drooping down. Thor's figure seemed to engulf her but she could see the hint of her fingers staying him. "And I think I need a bigger one, to be honest." She smiled, turning her head to smile up at him. Her face scrunched in consideration. "Maybe two?"

They looked at each other for a few seconds and then Thor dipped down, much quicker than she thought him capable of, and kissed her lips. "You shall have all that you need."

Her laugh bubbled out of her. 

Thor was already moving towards the door, calling the Warriors Three to him. 

Jane called out after him, "Ask your mom if it's okay first!"

"Of course, my lady!" The doors swung open and though he didn't have his cape on, she could imagine how it would flow after him. Jane pressed her lips together, trying to control her smile. 

Sif slid up to her side. "You are aware that there will be at least three looking glasses in your study before the day is over. And they will be fit for giants." 

Jane touched her fingers to her neck, blushing softly. "Yeah, I'm picking up on that."

"He would move the realms for you, Jane, if he could. I would say you should be prepared to do the same, but you already have."

"Sif," she breathed, heart fluttering at the words. "I—we had a deal." Jane rubbed her thumb over her ring finger at her side. 

"Come, let's make sure they do not break your new mirrors." Sif looped her arm through Jane's and led her out of the room.

"Seven years bad luck," Jane muttered to herself.

"Pardon?" Sif glanced at her. 

"Earth superstition, it's nothing."

\- 

After helping to pick out the appropriate mirrors, Jane and Sif headed back to her borrowed study. Inside Sif moved around it, comfortable in the space, her fingers brushing the large table covered in scrolls, books, and Jane's notes. She twirled Jane's pen in her fingers and Jane could suddenly imagine the ballpoint spinning in the air and lodging itself into someone's throat. 

"Be careful, you could kill someone with that," she said, half joking. In Asgard, in the hands of someone like Sif or Thor, everything was a weapon. 

Sif hummed, inspecting the pen. "Several ways in fact."

Jane coughed to swallow her laugh and picked up a discarded book from one of the chairs that littered the room, studying it for what felt like the first time.

It was large room, with its one large table and bookshelves at one end, but in the middle it had a comfortable sitting area Thor and others often sat in. It even had a small table — bigger than any coffee table Jane ever seen, but she imagined that was its purpose. Jane had been in several rooms of the palace, though definitely not all, but this was only one she'd seen with this particular setup. There’s was nothing really grand about it as opulent as it was, but careful and elegant.

She wasn't sure why the words came out now. 

"Was this room Loki's?"

Sif stopped spinning the pen in her hands and stared at Jane. 

"It's just… the setup. It's half study, half living room. I haven't seen another room like it."

The pen was placed back on Jane's borrowed desk with a dangerous stillness. Jane swallowed. 

"Thor and Loki's, in truth. Even when their interests diverged, they always enjoyed spending their time together. Even if they complained of how that time was spent. Sometimes we would sit here while Loki would get lost in his tomes." Sif moved towards one of the sofas and trailed her hand across the top. "He would always tell us to be quiet, but he would never chase us out and we would never be quiet for long."

"Oh."

"Have you asked Thor about it?"

Jane shook her head. "Oh, no. Just realised the connection now. I should have figured."

Sif sighed. "We've all avoided the subject of Loki, even this room, until recently." She sent a soft look at Jane.

"Thor talks about him a little. Little things about how he'd find my work interesting or tidbits of adventures you've had." Jane leaned against the table. "He goes to visit him, has been a few times since I've gotten here. He always comes back looking a little sadder, but relieved, too."

"Does it worry you?" On the sofa, Sif sat stiff. Her hands were clenched in her lap.

Jane shrugged. "A little, to be honest. I—There's two Lokis for me. The one Thor talks about, the one Frigga misses, and the one that visited my world. The one that sent the Destroyer. I don't know which one is the real one, and I don't want Thor to get hurt again, but Thor wants his brother back even if it’s for him to say outloud." Jane sat next to Sif. 

"I find I feel much the same, Jane."

"You don't want Loki to be free?"

Sif looked away. "I do not know if I can forgive the Loki that will be freed, should he ever be."

Jane was about to say something else when the doors swung open and Thor and other bounded in the room, three mirrors carried between the four of them.

"Jane, you have your mirrors!" Thor boomed, eyes crinkling. 

Sif patted Jane's leg, and the two women shared a look before Jane stood and started directing the guys about the room as they helped her set up her new boards.

Once that was done, Thor turned to her and, with a flourish, presented her a bundle of white sticks wrapped in a cloth. The sticks were a thick, soft wax that looked like candles but then he ran a stick across the board. When Jane saw the white line that remained on the glass, she leaped up and hugged him.

She had boards _and_ actual magic markers.

The rest of the day she spent setting them up, the sounds of Thor and others comforting background noise as they sat on sofas and chairs behind her.

 

 

_today_

She stood back and rubbed her eyes. It was quiet in the room, and turning she saw that all the others were gone, save Thor. That didn’t surprise her; she vaguely remembered them leaving as she worked, their duties calling them away. Sif had come up to her and pressed her palm between Jane’s shoulder blades, warm and solid, telling her to remember to eat and sleep. 

Jane hadn’t, but Thor had tugged her back to his chest sometime after, pressing some cut fruit into her palm. The mirrors were full of marks. They stood there, her eating and speaking as he watched her, his eyes furrowing. Jane knew she was worrying him. She was worrying herself. 

It wasn’t as if she knew she didn’t get lost in her work. She did it often. It wasn’t the work. It was what it saying. What she could see Thor understand between the things she couldn’t explain. Yet.

Right now he was quiet, attending to his own duties. There were reports he had to go over. His duties as Prince had grown these last few years, he had told her not long after she arrived. And with the events of the last few days, there was a growing need for his presence in the palace. Jane thought the leadership suited him, even if he was still uncomfortable with the weight of what was to come. 

Moving towards him, she grabbed her notebook and sat by his side. He flipped through the files in his holodisk for a few more minutes. Jane made some notes on her mirrors and then on the holodisk. Tony would cry knowing Asgard basically had had the technology for a millennia, so refined now they could compress it into a device the size of a USB stick. Jane had some ideas on how to adjust the mechanics for current Earth technology, but that was for another time. 

Thor looked up and smiled. As always, Jane couldn’t help but smile back. She felt she could always smile at him when he looked at her like that.

“You didn’t have to stay,” she said, leaning into his side as he wrapped an arm around her.

“I would rather be nowhere else.”

It wasn’t a lie. Jane had come to learn Thor rarely needed to lie. Rarely felt the need to. She wondered if that was because he always had Loki. She shook her head. Loki was a problem for tomorrow. Loki was a problem for yesterday, too. 

Sighing, she tucked her head against his neck. 

“Jane?” His fingers drifted through her hair, curling at the nape of her neck. She could feel his lips against her forehead. Under his mouth, her headache lessened. What she saw in the mirrors felt less worrisome. 

“I don’t think I want to be right, for once.” She looked up and met his eyes, and then looked to where she had covered the wall with mirrors, and covered the mirrors with her mishmashed science and myth. Thor's eyes followed hers and while he was open about not understanding everything about her research, he understood enough by now.

He tugged her closer and for a second Jane wondered if he was trying to shield her from what he saw or felt when he looked at her work. 

Cupping her face, he tilted her head towards him. His thumb rubbed gently across her cheekbones. Jane lifted her hands to rest against his neck.

“No matter what you discover I will be here, Jane. I trust in you. Maybe more than I do in anyone else.”

Jane laughed, wetly, and lifted her head, pressing their foreheads together. “I trust you too, more than anyone else.” In Asgard, that was true.

“You’ll do what is needed.” He kissed her then, mouth soft and steady against hers.

Jane nodded. “We’ll do it together.”

She felt Thor’s smile against her mouth. His eyes were solemn but unwavering and when she deepened the kiss, he met her fervour equally. When he tugged her to her feet and they walked toward his quarters, they walked side by side, her hand firmly in his. 

And when they laid side by side in his too large bed, facing each other, her breath still uneven, Jane pressed her forehead against his heartbeat and his hand laid flat over where her’s was still pounding, the necklace between his skin and hers. 

“Sleep, love, we have many things to do tomorrow.”

Jane knew he was right. She should sleep. 

Except…

Except.

She kept going back to one thing:

When a tree died, a new tree could grow in its place. But that was nature, and Yggdrasil was not just any regular tree. It was a system of worlds. What would happen if the inner structure of its system was compromised? What would happen to the worlds that were connected to it and relied on it to travel? Stars died. Supernovas occurred. Could something like that happen to the world tree Thor described? How would it heal?

And if it could die, what would it take to stop its death? The death of worlds. Looking around the empty room she wished she could talk to someone. Inside her head her thoughts circled into each other too much. Her temples pulsed with the beginnings of a headache. 

_Stars that sometimes shine too brightly became supernovae and their explosions echoed across the universe._

Why did she keep imagining Asgard in the middle of that?

 

 

_.sentiment_

“No!”

Across the table the Avengers sighed. Steve leaned forward and covered her hand. “Darcy, please. It’s been almost been two months.”

Darcy pulled it away. 

“I am not declaring Jane dead, Steve. I’m not.” Darcy leaned back in her chair, fighting the tears that were gathering in her eyes. She blinked. She wouldn’t cry, because Jane wasn’t dead. She wasn’t. She couldn’t be.

After what happened on the roof they had been trying non-stop to make Jane’s Bridge work. Bruce and Tony had barely slept for weeks, Darcy right along with them. She now knew enough about theoretical physics she could probably write her own better and funnier Big Bang Theory. They had come up with nothing so far. And the real problem was the world didn’t stop for one person, as much as Darcy wanted it to. The world didn’t stop at all. 

Life continued. 

Life continued in the worst ways.

SHIELD had imploded while she was in the middle of nap at what was now the Avengers Tower. 

Natasha had to go and meet Congress. 

The Avengers, as they were, assembled.

Steve and everyone were on an unofficial HYDRA clean up crusade. Loki’s sceptre was still out there and nobody wanted that.

Everyone had things to take care of now.

Darcy met Sam. She went to the unofficial team dinners Tony and Pepper organised. Clint was cool enough to watch TV with when he was around. She worked in the Tower, unofficially still under Jane’s contract, keeping tabs on the particle detector and atmospheric reader waiting, waiting. Waiting.

Nothing even bleeped. 

And each time they came for a report on the Jane Situation, she hated it. Steve and Clint looked at her with such fucking sympathy in their eyes she wanted to throw something at them. Natasha looked like Natasha, but there was a softness in her gaze that made Darcy think she thought Darcy was just putting off the inevitable. Bruce looked haunted, guilty. (Erik had barely made it a week after Jane was gone before starting to unravel at the seams so she sent him back home, telling him he’d be her first call when Jane came back. Darcy hoped he wasn’t counting the days like she was.)

“She’s not dead. _She’s not_.” Darcy hated how her voice cracked. 

Tony looked away from her. He stood from his chair and went to freshen up his drink. He came back with two, one he pushed into her hand. Darcy tossed it back. At least she could blame why her eyes were burning on the drink. 

Over her head Tony and Pepper locked eyes. He nodded and then Pepper reached out and touched Darcy’s shoulder. “Okay, Darcy. We’ll wait.”

She sniffed. “You better, because Jane is fine. She’s probably macking on Thor and trying to figure out how to fix this shit.” She choked back a sob, “This shit isn’t easy you know. If it was you would have figured it out by now.”

Tony snorted and refilled her drink. Pepper smiled at her. 

“No, it isn’t, you’re right. It’s not easy. We’ll wait.” 

Darcy hated feeling her age and she never felt it more than now. She just wanted her best friend back. 

She took the drink and nodded. “She’s gonna come back,” she murmured softly. “She has to.” _Come on Jane, prove me right. Please prove me right._

Around her, life continued.

 

 

_.lord of the wild hunt_

 

He stood in front of the cage and sighed. All the plans he had for his kingdom had shattered with one lie and one truth. To his right his queen smiled and he wondered if her mind’s eyes had foreseen this. There were some questions he could not ask however, there some futures that would not never be written in stone, but grew and wound around themselves like branches of a tree. 

His tree, he had always thought it privately as. His lofty tree with his kingdom at the very top, bright and gleaming like the sun. But it was dimming, he could feel the twilight days upon them. 

In front of him a face he grew to love against his better nature twisted itself up in a grin. It was not his own fierce smile or the sly one of his queen. It was one of a dead king. 

Odin met his second son’s eyes and struck down Gungnir at the edge of the cage. 

He had not wanted this, but Asgard could not crumble, he would not allow it. Looking at the human woman who stood stoically next to Thor, he flicked his eyes between her and Loki. At times there are sacrifices worth making. Thor would have to learn this, again.

 

 

_.shadow_

 

Finally, it was time for him to enter the play.

The rune burned as it disintegrated while he walked from his cage. His stride could be described as purposeful. 

Or victorious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and the picspam i made for it :D [I made a picspam for it bc I'm me](http://hariboowrites.tumblr.com/post/127670357411/title-pendulum-between-fandom-thor-mcu-ship). THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS STUCK WITH ME AND THIS FIC. PART 3 WILL COME!! hopefully sooner than later.


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